After Trump’s victory, New College students push for ‘sanctuary campus’

Students at New College of Florida are calling for school administrators to promise protection to undocumented immigrant students by refusing to cooperate with federal authorities and declaring the school a “sanctuary campus.”

The term has gained widespread popularity on campuses across the country since Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

New College sophomore Ximena Pedroza posted a petition on Facebook on Monday for New College to “implement a plan to declare our campus a sanctuary for all undocumented students, staff, faculty, and their family members, including especially those who face imminent deportation.”

The petition garnered 823 signatures as of 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The petition includes eight specific actions Pedroza and fellow activists would like administrators to implement, including a request to “actively refuse to comply with immigration authorities regarding deportations or raids.”

“This began after Trump’s election, realizing a lot will be changing,” Pedroza said. “I know there are lots of immigrants here, and I want to provide a place where they will know the administration supports them and would do everything they can to protect them.”

Trump made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his presidential campaign with promises to cancel President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive action. This could place DACA-recipient college students in jeopardy of deportation.

Pedroza, a native of Mexico, said the petition is less about opposing the efforts of law enforcement and more about showing immigrants they are welcome. She declined to comment on her immigration status.

The petition also calls for administrators to refuse to release information on the immigration status of students and community members, to denounce hate speech, to create spaces on campus for students who feel threatened and to develop a process for reporting hate incidents to authorities.

New College spokesman Dave Gulliver declined to comment on the college’s response to the petition, but he said New College President Donal O’Shea, Provost Stephen Miles and Dean of Student Affairs Robin Williamson would be meeting with Pedroza and other students on Friday.

Colleges across the country have been grappling with the ramifications of declaring sanctuary status. At Florida International University in Miami, a similar petition is circulating.

At the University of Wisconsin, officials said Thursday they could not declare sanctuary status because college administrators must follow state and federal laws.

Gulliver said New College does not normally release student information to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any law enforcement agency. He said ICE and other agencies would have to request the information with a subpoena or court order, and the school has never received such a request.

Student privacy laws, dictated by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, allow law enforcement agencies to request information in certain situations, but FERPA states “the educational agency or institution is responsible for making a determination whether to make a disclosure of personally identifiable information on a case-by-case basis.”

A 2011 ICE memorandum established guidelines that generally discourage ICE agents from conducting arrests, interviews, searches or surveillance in “sensitive locations,” a list that includes colleges.

Tammy Spicer, a public affairs officer with ICE, said the agency tries to avoid any enforcement actions on college campuses.

“(Actions on college campuses) require either prior approval from an appropriate supervisory official or exigent circumstances necessitating immediate action,” Spicer wrote in an email. “DHS is committed to ensuring that people seeking to participate in activities or utilize services provided at any sensitive location are free to do so without fear or hesitation.”

Pedroza, who saw her brother get deported seven years ago, said having administrators officially declare New College to be a “sanctuary school” was not as important as achieving some of the bullet-pointed actions listed in the petition.

“Getting that title may get some liberals to be joyful, but that title also gets you onto a very short list that is under a microscope,” Pedroza said. “Even if we were to achieve just one of those bullets, that would be a win.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2016 at 4:41 PM with the headline "After Trump’s victory, New College students push for ‘sanctuary campus’."