We students of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley recognize that our community is under attack. The Trump administration has threatened us with mass deportations and raids on our churches, schools, and homes. Unless a stand is taken against this xenophobic rampage, the consequences for the RGV will be catastrophic. Already, ICE agents stalk our neighborhoods in a desperate attempt to fulfill their new deportation quotas - many families are too afraid to work or attend classes. We implore our university to recognize our dignity as human beings regardless of legal status or nation of origin.

If UTRGV takes pride in our culture, then we are owed their solidarity. The students of this university are ready to hold our administration accountable, should they choose to ignore their responsibilities to our community. We demand that UTRGV commits to the following tenets or to swift, honest, and transparent negotiation.

Protect students, faculty, and staff from ICE intimidation. This includes the Edinburg, Brownsville, Harlingen, and Rio Grande City campuses, Coastal Studies Laboratory, and affiliated bus stops and high school campuses.

The UTRGV Police Department shall instruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers (ICE) to leave university premises unless presented with a non-expired warrant or subpoena signed by a judge and issued by a federal or state court (NOT administrative warrants from the Department of Homeland security on forms I-200 and I-205).

UTRGV PD will not enforce federal immigration law, which exists outside of their legal jurisdiction as police officers.

UTRGV PD will alert students when ICE officers are present on campus, through UTRGV emergency alert systems.

ICE representatives will not be invited to career fairs and tabling events.

Reporting or threatening to report someone’s immigration status will be considered harassment, and therefore an expellable offence under the student code of conduct.

UTRGV will never make data on the immigration status of their students available to the public or to ICE.

Provide resources to protect the rights of students.

Mandatory training for faculty and staff (including UTRGV police officers) on FERPA and Title XI, with a focus on information pertaining to immigration status.

Cooperation between community organizations and the UTRGV Office of Legal Affairs to provide students with information on immigration law.

Affirmation that UTRGV is a sanctuary for undocumented students and staff through regular public statements.

The RGV was built by people who uprooted themselves in search of a better life for their children. We refuse to be ashamed of our immigrant heritage - of the tremendous victories of our past, won by workers and students against violence, poverty, and corruption. In honor of those victories, we must devote ourselves to a new social revolution. We are the working class - the future lies in our hands. Power to the people of the Rio Grande Valley.

La lucha sigue,

RGV Young Democratic Socialists of America