Challenging Racist Nativist Framing: Acknowledging the Community Cultural Wealth of Undocumented Chicana College Students to Reframe the Immigration Debate

Using the critical race testimonios of ten Chicana undergraduate students at a toptier research university, Lindsay Perez Huber interrogates and challenges the racist nativist framing of undocumented Latina/o immigrants as problematic, burdensome, and illegal. Specifically, a community cultural wealth framework (Yosso, 2005) is utilized and expanded to highlight the rich forms of capital existing within the families and communities of these young women that have allowed them to survive, resist, and navigate higher education while simultaneously challenging racist nativist discourses. Reflecting on her data and analysis, Perez Huber ends with a call for a human fights framework that demands the right of all students-and particularly Latinas/os-to live full and free lives.