Are you a teacher interested in deepening your understanding of migration and immigration status precarity? Would you benefit from resources to guide conversation with your students? Then this page is for you.
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Below you will find news articles, novels, films, research papers, and more! We’ve included Canadian resources where possible, and grade or age recommendations where available. The links provided are for easy reference only; you may be able to access these resources through your institutional libraries.

​If you have suggestions of other items to include here, please send your ideas to us at [email protected]

Canadian Resources

• Webinar | What Are My Educational Options After High School with Precarious Immigration Status?, Presented by Stefan Enrique Joseph Kallikaden, April 2026.
• ​The Art of Becoming Invisible: How Students with Precarious Immigration Status Navigate Educational Systems, Dennique Lavia, Arlo Kempf, Xun Ril Li, CAPSLE, Aug 2025.
• Tackling anti-Black racism and discrimination in education, Ontario Human Rights Commission, Mar 2025
• Schooling as Bordering Practice, Curriculum Inquiry, Dec 2024
• Who Are Ontario’s Undocumented Youth?, The Agenda with Steve Paikin, May 30, 2024
• Canadian “Dreamers”: Access to Post-Secondary Education, Elise Mercier, Sean Rehaag and Francisco Rico-Martinez, 2023 CanLIIDocs 3135, Mar 25, 2024
• ​Invisible Lives: Meet Canada’s Undocumented Kids, The Walrus – Society, Feb 2, 2024​
• Children with Precarious Status in Canada, Bordering Practices, Systemic Racism, Immigration & Child Welfare, Issue Brief, December 2023
• Ways of Belonging: Undocumented Youth in The Shadow of Illegality, Francesca Meloni, Rutgers University Press, Oct 13, 2023
• ​​Why aren’t these kids in school? The Toronto school board says they need a document — to prove they’re undocumented, Toronto Star, Jun 16, 2023
• Innovative program assists ‘dreamers’ in Ontario, Canadian Lawyer, Oct 19, 2021
•  Pitching in: Helping young immigrants get the education they need, Globe and Mail, Oct 8, 2021 
• Broadening access to post-secondary education, Canadian Bar Association National, Sept 24, 2021
•  Canada’s Dreamers and their Precarious Future, Toronto Star – Podcast, Aug 4, 2020
•  Access to a University Degree a Must for Canada’s Dreamers, Toronto Star, Aug 3, 2020
• She’s One of Canada’s Dreamers, They Said she had Limitless Potential but now her Future is on Hold, Toronto Star – Investigations, Jul 25, 2020 
• There’s No Celebrating for Canada’s Dreamers, Toronto Star – Editorial, Jun 28, 2020
•  Dreamers in Canada Need Protection Too, Toronto Star – Opinion, Jun 23, 2020
• Barriers vs. bridges: Undocumented immigrants’ access to post-secondary education in Ontario, Marietta Armanyous, Graham Hudson, RCIS Working Paper, Dec 2019
• A Double Punishment: The Context of Post-Secondary Access for Racialized Precarious Status Migrant Students in Toronto, Canada, Paloma E Villegas and Tanya Aberman, Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees, Jun 3, 2019
• ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’: examining the illegalization of undocumented students in Toronto, Canada, Francisco J. Villegas, British Journal of Sociology of Education, May 2018
• “Isn’t the Right to an Education a Human Right?” Experiences of Precarious Immigration Status Youth Navigating Post-Secondary Education, Tanya Aberman and ​Philip Ackerman, 2017
• The Politics of "Access": Undocumented Students and Enrollment in Toronto Schools, Francisco J. Villegas, Nov 2014
  

USA/International Resources

• Chang, Aurora. “The Struggles of Identity, Education, and Agency in the Lives of Undocumented Students.” Springer EBooks, Springer Nature, 2017, 
• Crawford, Emily. “We Don’t Talk about Undocumented Status…We Talk about Helping Children: How School Leaders Shape School Climate for Undocumented Immigrants.” International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management, vol. 5, no. 2, July 
• Gandara, Patricia, et al. “The Impact of a Broken Immigration System on U.S. Students and Schools.” Latino Policy & Politics Institute, 4 Dec. 2023
• Menendez, April, and Carola Suárez-Orozco. “Understanding and Supporting Undocumented Students in Schools”. Oct. 2024
• Najarro, Ileana. “Undocumented Students Have the Right to a Free Education. This Is Why.” Education Week, 15 Nov. 2024
• ​United We Dream’s Dream Educational Empowerment Program, et al. “Immigrant and Refugee Children: A Guide for Educators and School Support Staff Tools and Resources to Help Protect and Prepare Youth and Families in Case of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) Raid.”
• ​Vázquez Charlie, et al. “Dreaming out Loud: Voices of Undocumented Students.” Pen America, 2019.
• Wong, Shelley, et al. Teachers as Allies: Transformative Practices for Teaching DREAMers & Undocumented Students. Teachers College Press, 2018.

Secondary School Resources 

Fiction

• Budhos, Marina. We Are All We Have. Wendy Lamb Books, 2022.
• Ibi Aanu Zoboi. American Street. HarperCollins, 2017.
• Lefteri, Christy. The Beekeeper of Aleppo. Ballantine Books, 2019.
• Perfection Learning Corporation. Star in the Forest. Turtleback, 2021.
• Rai, Alisha. While You Were Dreaming. HarperCollins, 2023.
• Saedi, Sarah. Americanized: Rebel without a Green Card. Ember, 2019.
• Yoon, Nicola. The Sun Is Also a Star. 2016. Ember, 2019.

Poetry

• José Olivares. Citizen Illegal: Poems. Haymarket Books, 2018.
• Vecchione, Patrice, and Alyssa Raymond. Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience. Seven Stories Press, 2019.

Graphic Novels

• Fabien Toulmé. Hakim’s Odyssey. Penn State Press, 2021.
• Nnedi Okorafor, et al. LaGuardia: A Very Modern Story of Immigration. Berger Books, 2019.
• Zamora, Javier. Solito. Hogarth, 2022.

Short films

• La Bestia (Animated Short Film). Directed by Pedro Ulteras, 2010.
• Through the Wall. Directed by Tim Nakashi, 2016.

Films

• Documented. Directed by Jose Antonio Vargas, 2013.
• Limbo. Directed by Ben Sharrock, 2020.
• Problemista. Directed by Julio Torres, 2023.
• The Visitor. Directed by Tom McCarthy, 2007.

Primary School Resources

Books

• Areli Morales, and Luisa Uribe. Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales, a DACA Recipient. Random House Studio, 2021.
• Cisneros, Ernesto. Efrén Divided. HarperCollins, 2020.
• Jose Antonio Vargas. Dear America: The Story of an Undocumented Citizen: Young Readers’ Edition. HarperCollins, 2018.
• Maham Khwaja, and Daby Zainab Faidhi. The Home We Make. 2024.
• René Colato Laínez. My Shoes and I: Crossing Three Borders. 2019.
• Yenner Rengifo Chaverra, et al. The Adventure of Guz & Goz / La Aventura de Guz & Goz. 2023.

​Films

• Nick News: Kids, Immigration and Equality. Directed by Matt Bellamy, 2021.
• Kids Talk about Immigration. Raicestexas, 2021.

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