Michelle Serrano

First Name: 
Michelle
Last Name: 
Serrano
Mentor: 
Dr. Mariela Nuñes-Janes & Dr. Yolanda Flores Niemann
Abstract: 
This research will document the experiences of educators affected by an immigration worksite enforcement operation in the small city of Paris, Texas. Research will focus on the educator’s challenges and what they learned as they tried to help their students cope with the multiple effects of a raid. This research contributes to a developing literature in the social sciences about the effects of raids by focusing on teachers and their role as mediators of the effects of worksite enforcement. I will be drawing from psychological perspectives of trauma and critical race psychology as well as on anthropological perspectives about the threat of deportability and accompaniment/accompaniment. Currently I have two research plans. Plan I will be a community participatory method relying on photovoice. Plan II will rely on individual interviews with educators and psychological assessments of trauma. The research plans will be discussed with the educators, with final methods determined by their input.
Poster: 
The Effects of Immigration Enforcement on Educators: A Case Study of Paris, TX