UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

In the United States, education is considered a key to success in life. However, not every resident of the U.S has the opportunity to access higher education. Undocumented immigrants seek better lives, or what is commonly called the “American Dream,” but their opportunities to achieve it through education are reduced because they were not born in the U.S. In fact, most undocumented immigrants were brought into the U.S. at young ages by their guardians, not because they decided to migrate to a different country. For these young undocumented people, the United States is the only home they know.