The inaugural UndocuAdvocate training, co-hosted by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Global-Local Affairs, and Undocumented Student Support Services (USSS), brought together 37 staff, faculty, and students to learn how they could support Loyola Marymount University’s undocumented student population. The training was conducted by cultural anthropologists Gerson Cortes Palacios, Aldo Cruz, and Patricia Vasquez from UndocuScholars LLC. They emphasized the importance of equipping campus partners with knowledge of resources and the rising need to support professional development and entrepreneurship opportunities. The training also highlighted the significance of having a support network to help the undocumented student population thrive on campus.
UndocuScholars LLC approached this training with a strong emphasis on collaboration and mutual responsibility, designed to make everyone feel included. “Responsibility asks for the discomfort of effort to the benefit of someone I may not believe deserves it,” said Palacios. “It’s tough work for already tired college staff, underscoring another significant goal of our training sessions: fostering interdepartmental support networks within campuses. Collaboration ensures that the burden of advocacy is not borne by a select few but is shared across the institution.”
This training was created because many schools struggle to engage their undocumented students even though colleges plan to be more purposeful about involving students and integrating them more easily into their campuses. It is not just about enrolling undocumented students, but the students who make it onto campus sometimes fall through the cracks and never reach the support networks, like USSS at LMU. “We created this training so the entire campus can start taking on the responsibility of helping undocumented students,” said Palacios. “We have a responsibility, regardless of our own political beliefs as educators, to develop the students who come through our doors. Especially when we know one in 13 people in California are undocumented.”
UndocuScholars LLC shared a visual of where undocumented immigrants in the U.S. come from around the world to represent and dispel myths. “The team provided both visuals and statistics that probably surprised many people in the room,” said Maria Barragán, director of USSS at LMU. “But it’s important to have a foundational understanding that supporting undocumented students means supporting students from all over the world and it’s not just a Latino/a/e issue. Providing this training creates bridges for the undocumented community. It demonstrates that Jesuit institutions, like ours, are really living by our social justice values.”
The team at UndocuScholars LLC observed some unique aspects of the training at LMU. As a private institution, LMU provides a platform where the campus community can collaborate to support its undocumented student population and envision ways to help these students thrive. “LMU is also one of the first schools whose DEI office played an active and purposeful role in inviting UndocuScholars LLC to deliver training for undocumented student support, which we now believe should be the standard,” said Palacios. “Private universities offer a unique lifeline to undocumented families across the country. Universities such as LMU open a door for undocumented families to tap into new potentialities; the students in these institutions help our communities develop new visions of our shared future.”
For Barragán, the training solidifies how the LMU community is supporting and building on her work leading this office for the past year. “I’m a big believer in people getting trained and understanding that regardless of where you stand politically, we have a responsibility to serve students,” said Barragán. “It feels like I have a village of people I can count on to do the work no matter how political others might consider it to be. I know that there’s a community within LMU for when we make a larger call when policies may negatively impact our students, they will show up.”
Jamal Epperson, assistant director of DEI initiatives at LMU, found the training highly impactful due to its interactive nature, relevance to the LMU community, and aligning with Jesuit values like cura personalis. “One thing I didn’t realize was the limited access to student employment,” said Epperson. “I didn’t realize there was an opportunity to create an internship type of position for undocumented students in DEI.”
The DEI, GLA, and USSS offices plan to host additional trainings in the future. “This was a foundational training that we would like to extend to others throughout the entire university so we can expand the community of what Maria has called “undoculiaisons,” said Epperson. “It can’t just be on one person to support our undocumented students, staff, and faculty, but on the community to provide equitable access to our LMU community.”