Searching for security: An ethnographic fictional narrative of a daily border crosser

Parents living in Mexico voluntarily make the decision to send their children across the southern border for the opportunity of an education in the United States. These daily border crossing students are American citizens; however, due to their parent’s citizenship status, their primary residence is in Mexico. This study focused on two questions: 1) what are the lived experiences of border crossing students; and 2) what does the fictional narrative of a cross border student tell us about the emotional and academic impacts felt by the school and community? To answer these questions, I used an ethnographic fictional narrative to fully describe the emotions and experiences of these students without jeopardizing the student or parent’s safety. Throughout this study, it was apparent that the emotional state of border crossing students needed to be addressed. The adult influences in the lives of border crossing students heavily influenced the perception and motivation students had on returning to the United States the following day. This dissertation does not offer answers to the pedagogy of working with border crossing students, but it does open the conversation and gives the reader the opportunity to be a part of their lived experiences.

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