It’s not clear how much they can actually do to protect undocumented students legally or whether they can actually forbid law enforcement officials from entering campus grounds, but, it would be interesting to keep a running tally of how many universities across the country have taken a public stance in support of DACA students and others who might become targets in the future. So far I have:
The California State University System (CSU)
The University of Oregon
Oregon State
Wesleyan University (CT)
Notre Dame already generally is - at least unofficially - a “sanctuary campus” but without the label:
Paul Browne, Notre Dame vice president for public affairs and communications, declined to say whether Jenkins might declare the campus a sanctuary. He noted the university already has a policy that protects undocumented students. Names of such students wouldn’t be handed over at the request of local, state or federal authorities unless a crime were committed.
“Notre Dame police will not report the existence of undocumented students to authorities and never does,” Browne said. “We don’t seek to determine the immigration status for authorities we come into contact with, whether it’s for an arrest or investigation.”
Browne said the term campus sanctuary “means different things to different people.” The university might decide not to “put a term on something that has a widely different meaning to some people than others,” he said, and Jenkins “is not adopting the semantics of protest, but saying what we’re doing in a concrete way.”
An undocumented student is one who is residing in the United States in contravention of law.
As far as schools being a “sanctuary campus”, I think it is an empty gesture. The whole movement only existed because of the sufferance of the federal government. If the Trump administration decides it wants to deport kids who overstay their visas, it’s not like the Wesleyan campus cops are going to barricade the dorms. In a similar vein, if colleges are (hypothetically) asked to provide citizenship status for their students to qualify for federal funding, no college is going to fight it.
After a BLM protest denouncing institutional racism at the country’s most radically liberal college, Reed College in Portland OR, the president (after receiving a list of demands) deemed Reed to be a “sanctuary campus” for undocumented students. I agree with the above user completely.
@Ohiodad51: I wouldn’t say sanctuary is necessarily an empty gesture. The big limit on the feds is numbers. There just aren’t that many feds compared to how many illegal immigrants. If a school has the power to forbid its law enforcement arm (presuming it has its own and doesn’t just rely on the city/county) from cooperating with the feds, there’s nothing really the feds can do (other than withhold funds). I suppose a private institution could also refuse to provide information, to the extent it has any.
The question of connecting immigration with federal funding is an interesting one. I’m curious whether there’s a sufficient nexus between education and immigration status to make that a condition.
Think it is hard to comment on this thread since it appears to me that the term “sanctuary campus” does not have one meaning. Each school seems to have a different petition going with different actions they want to take to protect their communities…
The one thing they all seem to have in common is a desire to refuse all voluntary information sharing with ICE/CBP. They seem to be on solid ground with that pursuant to FERPA. I am not sure their main concern is with students who have overstayed their visas. Student visas can be renewed. I think they are more concerned with DACA students who may lose coverage if that executive order is rendered void by the incoming administration. Not sure if those not covered under DACA could even enroll.
Agreed. I was wondering exactly what “sanctury campus” means…how far will a campus go? I’m sure the answer varies by campus. But the link I posted does at least give us an idea of how many want to continue the support of DACA.
It’s up to the schools whether to enroll undocumented students or students without visas. I don’t think many schools do enroll international students without visas, or allow them to continue if their visas expire (especially those schools that employ the foreign students). To much federal funding at risk.
If DACA is ended, the only real difference I see is that new applicants may not have a way to get a SSN or other documentation available under DACA, may not be able to work at all if the university admits the undocumented student. Before DACA, some states allowed students to attend at resident rates, some didn’t, but undocumented people did go to school. DACA made it easier and allowed them to legally work, and was supposed to be the first step to a path to citizenship, but it is just an executive order and doesn’t have much power.
When the DACA executive order is abrogated, we will be like all other countries; one will need to be a citizen or have a student visa to live in the country to attend college. Just like when I was a student in Europe. Nothing crazy, actually the norm worldwide.
I don’t have a problem with that norm going forward. But we cannot just toss people out that we have allowed to be here and who have built lives for themselves. We dropped the ball for a very long time so for those who are here working or going to school that is on us. We should not turn on them now.
Those with criminal records I might look at differently. My guess is that this is the population that the new administration will focus on.
I don’t agree snarlatron. Undocumented students were attending colleges long before DACA and many schools will continue to allow them to do so if DACA ends.
A consensus of sorts seems to be building that a sanctuary campus will not permit law enforcement officials on college property without a warrant nor turn over documents without a subpoena.
Adding Columbia University:
The California State University System (CSU)
Columbia University
The University of Oregon
Oregon State
Wesleyan University (CT)
If the Federal gov’t decides to enforce Title 8 of the U.S. Code, schools allowing this may find themselves in jeopardy, in the legal sense or in loss of federal funds.