Undocumented students share their frustrations with the election cycles.

Illustration by Carmen Gonzalez | The Corsair

Many voters are set to cast their vote in the California primaries with election day on June 7 and again in the general midterms on Nov. 8. Elections like these will determine local, statewide, and federal representatives, legislation, and funding.

In the United States, to be able to vote in most elections one must be 18 years old, meet their state’s residency requirements and be an U.S. citizen. Undocumented students fail to meet that last condition.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), is an immigration policy which former President Barack Obama passed in 2012. It provides protection for children from deportation and a work permit for some undocumented people, but it does not grant them the right to vote nor a pathway to citizenship.

A DACA recipient and sociology student at Santa Monica College (SMC) named Jesus, who asked to only use his first name for his safety, said that during the 2016 presidential election, he shared his immigration story with his Instagram followers. He hoped it would convince some of them to vote. “I was guilt tripping them. If they cared about me, they would vote,” Jesus said.

SMC's Interim Dean of Special Programs, Nick Mata, who oversees the Dream Program and Dream Resource Center, named after failed DREAM Act proposed by congress, said the program and resource center provides a holistic perspective to the undocumented experience at the college.

Since the installment of DACA and the advocacy work of immigrant organizations, Mata explained that colleges across California have created centers to provide support to the undocumented population. “Creating that awareness of who they really are and not this stereotype of what these campaigns play them out to be for whatever their political agenda is,” he said about combating the prejudiced narrative that immigrants face from certain politicians.

2022 California State University-Fullerton (CSUF) graduate Brenda, who will be using only her first name, believes American citizens can do more for the undocumented community beyond voting. “Voting is the bare minimum,” she said. “We need citizens to push for more immigration reforms, more funding for scholarships for undocumented people. We need them to show up for us.”

The Dream Resource Center at SMC encourages and helps undocumented people find ways to get politically involved. Jesus is a member of SMC’s I.D.E.A.S club, a group which aims to bring awareness to the struggles of immigrant and underrepresented students.

When Brenda was enrolled as a student at CSUF, she was part of her school’s Titan “Dreamers” Resource center and Latinx Community Resource Center. “Throughout my undergrad at Fullerton, I was as politically involved as I could,” she said. “I wanted my voice heard.”

Mata explained that SMC’s Dream Resource Center and Dream Program aim to counter harmful political narratives against the undocumented communtiy. “‘They are here to take our jobs, they are taking seats at our colleges and that they don’t pay taxes, that they are receiving welfare’ and that’s just not true,” said Mata. “But that’s what happens during elections, they ‘other’ undocumented individuals giving all these falsehoods of who they are and unfortunately many end up believing them.”

The American Immigration Council estimates 10.3 million undocumented immigrants lived in the United States as of 2019, many of whom have no legislative power. “I want to vote. I want to feel represented. In some cases, when in conversation I was so much more informed than people who are voting, it gets frustrating,” Jesus said. He and Brenda both urged citizens to exercise their right to vote.

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