The ongoing attacks on immigrant communities are devastating. For immigrant youth, the current moment holds enormous uncertainty. They have seen some of the most important gains made over the last two decades eroded, including through an expansion of immigration enforcement targeted at students and youth, among them those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that has provided work permits and protection from deportation to a diminishing number of individuals.

At the same time, immigrant youth have responded to DACA’s slow demise with intense organizing and political mobilization, particularly in California. That mobilization has continued even during the last 18 months, despite intensifying federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Join Cristina Jiménez, author, organizer, and Co-Founder of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the United States, in conversation with Ahilan Arulanantham, Faculty Co-Director of the Miñana Family Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

The discussion will focus on Cristina’s best-selling memoir Dreaming of Home and the lessons it holds for immigrant youth as they meet the challenges of the current moment and beyond while working to expand educational employment opportunities for those without DACA.

Arulanantham and Jiménez are both MacArthur Fellowship recipients.

The event is sponsored by the Miñana Center and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The event is part of Defying Boundaries: MacArthur Fellows at 45.

This moment calls for creative courage. For 45 years, MacArthur Fellows have expanded the boundaries of possibility by questioning conventions, crossing disciplines, and driving collective progress. Throughout 2026, the Foundation is celebrating the groundbreaking work of the Fellows and inspiring public dialogue through a series of nationwide events and conversations. Learn more at macfound.org/fellows-45.

To register for the in-person event, visit https://bit.ly/ImmigrantYouthMovementEvent.

To register for the virtual event, visit https://bit.ly/ImmigrantYouthMovementWebinar.