Undocumented Students and the DREAM Act

Roberto G. Gonzales is an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work. He earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine; his M.S.W. from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago; and his undergraduate degree from Colorado College. He combines 17 years of direct service with immigrant youth and families and formal training in sociology and social welfare to shape his research and teaching interests. His current research explores the effects of legal status on 1.5 Generation unauthorized young adults. Drawing from 250 respondents and 102 in-depth life histories, he examines the role of policy, processes of acculturation, and mediating institutions in shaping the pathways and options available to unauthorized youth as they move into adulthood. Gonzales’ research and teaching interests include international and unauthorized migration, urban studies, the 1.5 and 2nd Generations, and Latino communities and families. He is the author of “Left Out but Not Shut Down: Political Activism and the Undocumented Student Movement,” “Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students” and Young Lives on Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students, with the College Board. He is a co-founder of Video Machete, a youth media organization in Chicago, and has served on several local and national boards, including those of the Crossroads Fund and the American Friends Service Committee.