Nadia Burke, Mount Pleasant first-year, said students on campus are “afraid” about new immigration policies, enacted on Inauguration Day.
On Jan. 20 President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Securing Our Borders.” Under section five, “Detention,” the order states: “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate actions to detain, to the fullest extent permitted by law, aliens apprehended for violations of immigration law until their successful removal from the United States.”
One component of the Secretary of Homeland Security is the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which, according to the website, “promotes homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.”
Organization for Latinx Awareness (OLA) Vice President and Dallas sophomore River Morelli said groups like theirs are “trying to create events in which we advocate for students.”
What Would Happen if ICE Came to Campus?
Director of Campus Safety Dave Leib said college staff and faculty have been instructed to contact him in the event of ICE being on campus.
He added that ICE would “have to have a warrant,” and that the college cannot give any information regarding a student to anyone outside the college due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
“We are in a position to make sure that (ICE is) following everything that they say that they’re supposed to be following based on their model,” Leib said.
President Wayne Webster said the warrant would need to be a “judicially-issued warrant, and then we would engage our legal counsel and we comply from that point forward.”
Webster added that FERPA is the “guiding principle” that ensures privacy concerns are addressed.
“Our focus is protecting students and making sure that this is a place for them to be safe and to learn and to grow,” Webster said.
According to Director of Albion Public Safety Aaron Phipps, nobody in his department or “any other agency, really,“ is going to “stop somebody randomly, harass them and question their citizenship.”
“I mean now you’re violating people’s fourth amendment rights, and their civil rights,” Phipps said. “No officer in our department would even think about doing that.”
Phipps said that for ICE to come, “it would have to be for a very serious matter,” such as homicide, sexual assault or physical assault.
“If any students are concerned there, for one, I don’t want them to be concerned. Nobody wants to look both ways before they leave their dorm room or anything,” Phipps said.
Phipps said he thinks “the reality of ICE or anybody like that coming here” is “very unrealistic.”
Student Reactions, Moving Forward
Burke said she has never agreed with the term “illegal immigrants,” and believes that “everyone deserves to live wherever they’re safest and happiest.”
“This country is supposed to be a place where everyone is free and everyone is welcome. I just feel like lately it’s kind of not doing that,” Burke said. “It just makes me really angry to see so many people so afraid, and being treated wrongly for something they can’t control.”
Morelli said anyone interested should attend OLA events and see how others are feeling, adding that, “it’s important to be a good ally for your community even if it doesn’t affect you.”
“I think the lack of accountability from institutions like Albion has been a big problem because I think it allows people to continue to spread this anti-immigrant rhetoric,” Morelli said.
Resources for Students
Marcie Noble is a Spanish lecturer and the current longest-serving member of the Undocumented Student Support Committee (USSC), which she said via email on Feb. 13 is an “informal group of volunteers on campus.”
“We are focused on listening and learning and advocating for students who are in a situation that is inherently marginalized,” Noble said.
In a statement shared with the Pleiad via email on Feb. 19, the USSC said “The Undocumented Student Support Committee remains committed to ensuring that all students can access the resources they need to thrive. We continue working to address barriers and connect students with support, fostering a welcoming and secure environment for learning.”
Students can contact Noble ([email protected]) with any questions about the committee’s work.
Seiji McSwain is a member of the Pleiad and the President of OLA.
Jocelyn Kincaid-Beal also contributed reporting to this story.
To share your thoughts, feelings or concerns, submit a letter to the editor at https://www.albionpleiad.com/about/letter-to-the-editor/ and we may publish it.
Correction – 11:18 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21: Spelling of Phipps’ name was corrected.
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