UTA students demand protection for DACA students following Supreme Court hearing
Protesters at UT Arlington on Wednesday demanded that the university protect all students regardless of citizenship status as the Supreme Court considers ending the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program.
The Trump administration on Tuesday argued before the court that shielding children of undocumented immigrants, or Dreamers, should end and that the program is unconstitutional.
The UTA Progressive Student Union gathered 14 students, signs and a megaphone at Hereford University Center and marched across the Cooper Street bridge to Davis Hall, which houses administrative offices.
They carried a list of demands, hoping to hand-deliver them to UTA President Vistasp Karbhari. He wasn’t in the office, but Progessive Student Union president Mark Napieralski said it was still a win.
“It’s been two years of limbo and the fact is that we’ve asked Dr. Karbhari to do just this (answer the group’s demands) previously,” Napieralski told the organization’s members after the march.
“What we need to do now is come back here and make sure he gets our demands because it’s now or never. People’s lives are at risk. Students’ lives are at risk.”
A university spokesperson said the institution values the opinions and input from students, but did not comment on specific demands.
The DACA program allows undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as students to remain here, work and go to school without fear of deportation.
But it could be at risk as the Supreme Court’s five conservative judges seemed to support President Donald Trump’s wishes on DACA over the four liberal judges.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Trump administration has not shown enough cause to cancel the program, nor has appropriately taken stock of the potential economic and social impacts.
The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling in June.
The Progressive Student Union is demanding 10 things from the university, including student protections regardless of citizenship status, a policy resisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement should it attempt to arrest undocumented students on campus, the creation of a DREAM Center, and the hiring of an immigration attorney for students and more minority professors.
UTA is among the more diverse universities in the South. About 22.4% of the student enrollment is Hispanic/Latino, 13.9% black or African-American and 9.7% Asian according to recent university data.
Here are the Progressive Student Union’s 10 specific demands:
▪ Publicly declare a non-compliance policy with ICE, actively refuse warrants not signed by a judge and do not allow ICE agents on campus.
▪ Hire an immigration lawyer for students and create a DREAM center.
▪ Create new scholarships for undocumented immigrant students and general scholarships for minority students.
▪ Actively promote and inform students of the Texas Application for state Financial Aid, especially for undocumented immigrant students who do not have access to federal aid.
▪ Offer more job opportunities for students on campus.
▪ Publish a statement that the administration will protect all students, regardless of citizenship status “in the face of greater attacks on the immigrant community by the Trump Administration.”
▪ Hire more minority faculty and ensure they receive the same pay as other faculty.
▪ Work with organizations like the North Texas DREAM Team.
▪ Hire more minority counselors and ensure they receive the same pay as other counselors.
▪ Make cuts to the “bloated bureaucracy” to pay for these demands.