Undocumented and mixed-status students navigate educational spaces while carrying unique strengths, responsibilities, and challenges that often remain invisible in schools. Too often, conversations about undocumented communities focus solely on fear, trauma, or crisis. This interactive workshop shifts the narrative by centering Undocu Joy, an asset-based framework that recognizes the resilience, leadership, cultural wealth, and humanity of undocumented students while equipping educators with practical strategies to create affirming school environments.

Participants will deepen their understanding of the legal protections afforded to undocumented students, examine how immigration-related stress can affect student well-being and learning, and explore how schools can become spaces of safety, belonging, and trust. Through personal reflection, discussion, and collaborative activities, participants will examine their own identities and assumptions, learn trauma-informed and culturally sustaining approaches to supporting undocumented students, and explore family preparedness resources that schools can use responsibly and ethically.

Grounded in lived experience and classroom practice, this session moves beyond awareness to action by providing educators with concrete tools they can immediately implement to foster dignity, resilience, and educational equity for undocumented students and their families.