In recent years, the number of Mexican youth moving (back) to Mexico from the US has been steadily growing (Sanchez Garcia & Hamann, 2016; Jensen & Jacobo-Suarez, 2019). The Pew Research Center for Hispanic Studies estimates that between 2009 and 2014, roughly 1 million Mexicans and their families moved from the US to Mexico (Gonzalez-Barrera, 2015); an exodus that has resulted in more Mexicans leaving the US than coming in (Jensen, Mejia-Arauz, & Aguilar Zepeda, 2017). In light of this unprecedented phenomenon, Mexican educators need to be prepared to meet the educational needs of returnee youth as they (re)incorporate into Mexico's school system. However, to date, few teacher preparation programs in Mexico include content related to the education of returnee students in their curricula (Tacelosky, 2020), which translates into educators' overall unawareness of this student population that can potentially lead to leave misrepresentations and biases around returnee students unchallenged (Pasallo Zepeda & Vargas Garduno, 2013). Using language ideologies and critical pedagogy as theoretical orientations, the purpose of this study was to examine teacher candidates' language and pedagogical orientations in a transnational education class. Through a critical action research project (Herr & Anderson, 2015; Kemmis, McTaggart & Nixon, 2014), I employed ethnographic tools such as a survey, semi-structured interview, audiovisual recordings of class sessions, and document analysis to better understand the ways in which teacher candidates articulated ideologies about transborder students' language practices and the pedagogical responses they proposed to meet their educational needs. Findings revealed that teacher candidates held multiple and contesting language ideologies that framed returnee students in both deficit and asset-based ways. Given these findings, it is imperative that educators continue to interrogate dominant discourses that frame returnee students as illegitimate speakers, and be better prepared to move beyond prescriptive understandings of language to embrace approaches that recognize and validate all students' linguistic diversity. Moreover, as Mexican schools continue to see a steady increase in the number of returnee students, it behooves educators to become aware of the perceptions they have about this student population. In this sense, the context of TESOL preparation programs constitutes a valuable opportunity for future teachers to engage in critical reflections on the language ideologies that they articulate and embody as a means to challenge deficit-based perspectives that circulate in teacher preparation programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]