Multicultural Student Development and the Hispanic Student Association joined forces Tuesday afternoon to discuss the struggles and issues undocumented students face in the U.S.

The event, titled “Realities of Undocumented Students, was held in the Multicultural Center, room 112 of the Plemmons Student Union on Appalachian State University’s campus.

Darcy Vanderhoof, a member of the Multicultural Student Development, said more people came than expected, with nearly 30 people in attendance.

Shady Kimzey, a member of the Multicultural Center, said the event was created to teach students the importance of the struggles most undocumented students face.

“We had the audience either strongly agree, strongly disagree, agree or disagree with different statements that we read,” Kimzey said. “[They included] either personal statements or stereotypical statements about immigration or undocumented citizens.”

Throughout the event, presenters gave statistics concerning undocumented students in the United States.

Cardo said nearly 1.5 million K-12 students in the United States are undocumented. She said some states have policies regarding undocumented students, resulting in some allowing undocumented students while others do not.

“An estimate of 65,000 [to] 80,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year,” said Aneisy Cardo, president of the Hispanic Student Association. “Of those who graduated, roughly 37,000 are Latinos. Out of those 37,000 only 5 percent go to college.”

For more information regarding undocumented students, visit immigrationpolicy.org

Story: Tatiana Tellez, Intern News Reporter