Undocumented Students, Allies Hold Nationwide #SanctuaryCampus Protests

By Sameer Rao Nov 16, 2016

As part of his plan for his first 100 days in office, President-Elect Donald Trump pledged federal action to deport more than two million undocumented immigrants and suspend federal funding to sanctuary cities. Undocumented students and their allies at schools across the country will stand up to those plans today (November 16) with #SanctuaryCampus actions.

 

Though not formalized, the sanctuary designation means that an entity will not detain people for non-criminal immigration violations or collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport undocumented individuals.

While many actions are slated to begin at 3 p.m. local time, they are already underway in the Miami metropolitan area, where the local CBS station reports that high school and college students in nearby Homestead walked out of classes and marched to city hall to demand that their city and schools remain safe havens for undocumented immigrants.

Movimiento Cosecha (Harvest Movement), the advocacy group coordinating many of the #SanctuaryCampus actions, said in an emailed statement that actions will take place at "80+ universities, colleges and high schools nationwide." The statement also notes that besides his deportation and defunding plans, Trump will have the power to overturn President Barack Obama‘s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA affords many undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children some protection from deportation and access to work permits.

(H/t NPR, The Washington Post)