While it was hard to hear the speaker, what I gathered from Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera’s talk on undocumented youth was a rather powerful and important conversation that needs to be had.  Her talk was about the conflict many undocumented youth have, a topic that is important considering how large an issue immigration has been lately.  While many people think of the negatives of immigration this talk phrased this conversation differently.  It is hard to imagine deporting young people who are working hard to gain an education and improve themselves in the only country they have ever known.  The talk discussed the many different programs to help undocumented student youth.  It was interesting to hear how the language changed over time and the many challenges undocumented youth faced within the system built to help them.  For example, the language seemed to criminalize the parents and blame them for the illegal immigration.

The system also seemed to deem who was deserving of belonging to that group.  By doing this they decriminalized only those deserving while still criminalizing all other immigrants.  There is a definite divide in how undocumented immigrants are visualized and identified.  I think it is impressive that the undocumented youth, despite all the other problems they face, were able to collectively work toward changing people’s perspectives and the many laws that affect them, their families, and how they are perceived.