Students and professors across the country are calling for their schools to become “sanctuary campuses” for undocumented immigrants, in a creative form of resistance to the xenophobic policies of the incoming Trump administration.
Inside Higher Ed reports that thousands of people have signed petitions urging their campuses to protect undocumented students, who will likely be at increased risk of deportation under the strict anti-immigration policies of President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump has promised to deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants and to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants temporary relief to hundreds of thousands of undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children.
“Immigrant youth who had a dream fought for and won DACA against all odds, and our communities won’t be intimidated by Trump even as he threatens to take it away,” said Thais Marquez, an undocumented student and organizer with Movimiento Cosecha (Harvest Movement), in a statement Tuesday. “We’re calling on our classmates and our neighbors to stand for what’s right and grow a network of support for immigrants on our campuses and beyond. Millions of immigrants do crucial work that makes the American economy run, and we need the support of our country’s churches, community centers, and homes as places of sanctuary against deportation too.”