Candidly Canada: True sanctuary found in federal policies
For my host country like Canada, universities need no special recognition for welcoming anybody, regardless of citizenship or ethnicity. When Canada already has an administration known for accepting every person that enters its borders, the entire country is a safe haven.
American perspectives on immigration are a tad different. Since Trump has begun pushing for efforts to find and remove all undocumented immigrants from the country, the collective emotion rising among the American people is fear.
If Trump were to deport every single undocumented immigrant, the New York Times says the total people affected would be up to three million.
From the anti-immigration fear arose an increasingly popular title of “sanctuary campus.” A Billy Penn article defines sanctuary campus as any American college that adopts policies to protect undocumented immigrants.
The status suggests campus policies such as barring campus police from enforcing immigration orders, not sharing student information with immigration enforcement officials and denying federal officials entry without warrants.
USD’s Student Government Association is considering a resolution that would make USD a sanctuary campus. If approved, the decision would be the first of its kind in South Dakota.
While it’s honorable to consider such a title, the campus designation is just that: a title, one which might be more problematic than helpful.
All college campuses should do everything within their power to legally protect undocumented students.
Going beyond legal means would be both risky and potentially detrimental to the entire student body. We must tread the deportation matter cautiously. Enacting pledges that can’t be kept won’t help anybody.
The real authority here, no matter how public universities try, is the government, which could easily decide to cut funding if such “sanctuary” actions are taken. Federal action could also threaten to refuse to issue loans to students at sanctuary campuses or withhold federal research grants.
The sanctuary campus movement mainly aims to protect those under DACA, or Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals. American organization Immigration Equality says that in 2012, President Obama created the policy calling for deferred action for certain undocumented young people who came to the country as children. However, DACA is a temporary deferment. Student visas are available, but getting a Green Card requires employment.
Several campuses across the country have already decided to avoid claiming themselves as sanctuaries, including Stanford and Notre Dame. Both universities see the symbolic weight of moving forward as sanctuaries, but they see a greater fear in federal retaliation and increased exposure for vulnerable students that public institutions can’t protect them from.
Whether a university declares itself a sanctuary or not, students still have basic rights that can protect them. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits schools from releasing a student’s personal information without consent.
Also, the federal government has a long-standing policy against raids at certain “sensitive” locations like college campuses.
As a public university, is it smart to move forward into unknown territory? Universities can continue providing education and a location where immigration agents likely won’t go, but we’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist yet.
The sanctuary title is nothing but another form of protest causing more harm than good. Being proactive is great, but it’s more respectable to have clear, legal standards to protect students.
The real action needing to take place is at the federal level to allow greater accessibility for immigrants to become citizens. To show support for all students, USD’s SGA bill works just fine, but we can’t expect USD to get involved otherwise.
The government is still in charge. We need to keep protesting and voting. We can’t stand behind a public university to face our problems. If this is an issue we’re concerned about – and rightfully, we should be – this is our battle to fight.
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