The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/daca/page/2/)
The event encouraged students to call representatives despite the Supreme Court’s Feb. 26th decision to uphold an injunction on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival suspension while a lower court takes up the case.
Tuesday’s reported arrest of a man in downtown Ithaca by U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement is the latest example of the federal overreach and lack of accountability characteristic to the Trump administration. Under President Trump, arrests by ICE have increased 47 percent, and arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal records have increased a staggering 179 percent. ICE continues to show a blatant disregard for human dignity, arresting parents dropping their kids off at school, students going to high school prom and patients emerging from operating rooms. On Jan. 16, ICE arrested a Michigan doctor and lawful permanent resident, and have initiated deportation proceedings against him based on two misdemeanor charges from nearly three decades ago, when the man was a teenager. How does that make us safer?
The DACA Renewal Fee Emergency fund, announced last Thursday, is supported by the Office of Financial Aid and provides grants up to $495 — the total cost of the reapplication fee.
“Here we are fighting for our DACA brothers and sisters, and I stand in full support of you.”
“They were brought to this country before they had a choice in the matter, have grown up here, and are succeeding here despite significant challenges and obstacles,” Pollack wrote. “I believe they deserve a chance to fulfill their dreams, and this action has the potential to extinguish those dreams.”
“On behalf of Cornell University, I write to share my deepest concern with news reports indicating that you intend to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program,” Pollack wrote to Trump.
His contributions and connections, all the constitutive elements of personhood in society, meant nothing when he was taken by an unmarked van. That his city wanted him here was unimportant — Ithaca’s sanctuary status meant very little as well.
“If federal policy with respect to the DACA program changes, Cornell will examine how we can develop, administer and use a DACA-like set of criteria to enable undocumented students … to qualify for domestic financial aid and admissions policies.”
Aimed to address the community’s concerns for students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, particularly following President Donald Trump’s election, the University held a panel discussion to elaborate its policy.
Cornell Coalition for Inclusive Democracy organized a protest around the Arts Quad on Thursday, demanding that the university take concrete measures to safeguard DACA-affiliated students.