"Chicago's Dreamers and Doers: Higher Education and Supporting the Needs of Undocumented Students"

Nearly half a million undocumented students in the United States are enrolled in a university or college. This thesis investigates how Undocumented Student Liaisons created by Bill HB3438 and other advisers to undocumented students in Chicagoland colleges and universities develop their support, outreach, and advocacy of these students. The paper draws from existing literature on best practices to foster trust and create long-lasting support structures to create an equitable environment for undocumented students. The study presents findings from interviews with eight post-secondary staff members whose job descriptions explicitly include advising undocumented students. Analysis of the interviews reveals that liaisons struggle to efficiently account for the varied backgrounds of their students without proper institutional structures and a current lack of sufficient funding. Indeed, the thesis argues that the HB3438 Bill does not provide enough institutional structure and funds for liaisons to fulfill the bill's broad spirit of supporting undocumented students. The paper concludes with recommendations for how undocumented student liaisons can foreground the needs of undocumented students.