Student Conversation about Immigration Status

Alison​: What does it mean to be undocumented?

Student 1​: It means that someone doesn’t have papers.

Student 2​: Yeah. They are called illegal.

Student 1: ​They are just people though - no one is illegal.

Alison​: Is it common to talk about being undocumented?

Student 3​: Oh no - no one talks about it. Sometimes when someone knows someone else is and
they are too, they’ll talk about it, but not really.

Alison​: Why do you think people don’t talk about being undocumented?

Student 4​: People have fear or are embarrassed to say that they are undocumented. They also
don’t want to be deported.

Alison​: Should people have that fear? Does it make sense that they are scared?

Student 1​: Yes because they don’t know what is going to happen in their futures.