Giving Compass' Take:

• The Unafraid is a documentary following three Dreamers as they navigate their path to college in an uncertain policial climate. 

• Can philanthropists partner with higher education institutions to create scholarship programs for these students?  What can individuals do to help undocumented students while immigration policy stays in limbo?

• Read about the success of recent DACA grads as they celebrate receiving their high school diplomas. 

Since the Trump administration announced last year it would end a program that offers protections to undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children, their fate remains in limbo.

Amid the political gridlock in Washington over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Dreamers must keep pushing forward. Among them are the young undocumented students who, despite the odds being stacked against them, strive to receive a higher education.

In a new feature-length documentary, The Unafraid, filmmakers spent about four years following the lives of three Dreamers from Georgia — Alejandro, Silvia, and Aldo — as they fight for the chance to attend college.

The documentary, which was funded primarily by the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms, was released during a turbulent, uncertain time for the DACA program, but it doesn’t stop at policy. It was filmed in an observational style, cameras following the young adults from protests — chanting “Undocumented! Unafraid” — to intimate moments with their families.

Viewers observe the students as they engage in immigration reform activism while struggling with the college application process, family finances, health issues, immigration enforcement, and cross-country moves.

“If people feel like they got to know someone at a personal level, then I think people are more likely to take some sort of action, even if it’s just sharing with their husband or kids or coworkers the story that they just saw,” Prado told The 74.

In Georgia, about 3,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year. Nationally, an estimated 800,000 undocumented youth turn 18 each year and about 65,000 graduate from high school, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Yet only 5 percent to 10 percent of undocumented high school graduates enroll in college, due to a variety of challenges. Even fewer earn a college degree.

Read the full article about undocumented students by Mark Keierleber at The 74