Undocumented & Unafraid: The DREAM Act 5 and the Public Disclosure of Undocumented Status as a Political Act

In 2010, the political advocacy of undocumented immigrant students in support of the DREAM Act took a new and decisive direction when the public disclosure of undocumented status as political act was adopted. This new political strategy included the first case of civil disobedience practiced by a group of undocumented immigrant students now known as the DREAM Act 5. Letters written by four of the DREAM Act 5, press media articles and interviews, and information from student advocacy blogs were examined in this study. The students' political agency/subjectivity was the focus of the analysis as well as the function of the public disclosure of undocumented status in challenging the societal exclusion, invisibility, and dehumanization of undocumented immigrant students.