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Undocumented Stress Essay

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Kimberly Galindo
U.S. Mexico Border Relations 130
Final Paper
Stress on Undocumented Students
The “Undocumented Students” are youth who arrived to the United States as young children. These are young adults fighting hard to achieve their piece of the American Dream. Their experiences are emblematic of the struggles of millions of undocumented children and youth in America who deal daily with isolation from peers, the struggle to pursue an education, fears of detention and deportation and the trauma of separation from family and loved ones. Today there are one million children under 18 and 4.4 million under 30 undocumented young adults living in America and 11 Undocumented immigrants (American Psychological). Being undocumented negatively …show more content…

Undocumented college students have a much higher level of anxiety than the population at large, likely caused by a unique set of challenges they face as a result of their legal status. Concern related to finances, fear of deportation and a sense of isolation weigh heavily on undocumented students, according to a study released today from the Institute for Immigration, Globalization and Education at the University of California Los Angeles. In the study of undocumented undergraduates, 28.5 percent of male and 36.7 percent of female participants reported a level of anxiety that was above the clinical cut off for generalized anxiety disorder, which means a moderate or severe level of anxiety. That’s compared to 4 percent and 9 percent from a sample of the general population. The Pew Research Center estimates that there are between 200,000 and 225,000 undocumented immigrants enrolled in college. But research on the population is limited largely to students at selective four-year colleges or within specific states, according to the study. Undocumented students, for obvious legal reasons, also are a difficult population to reach. This study consisted of a largely anonymous survey of 909 participants from 34 states. They represented 55 different

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