Demand that Harper protect its immigrant students
Dr. Avis Proctor
This past year, we have seen a major ramp-up in attacks on immigrant communities across the United States by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the direction of the fascist Trump administration. We are seeing our community members arrested, taken, and deported, sometimes even to countries in which they have no connections. Furthermore, the Trump administration has also been targeting international students who have engaged in political activism that they disagree with and revoking their visas.
This is even impacting our local community. We have seen a major ICE presence here in the northwest suburbs, with many residents even afraid to leave their homes. Additionally, with a large number of international and immigrant students and distinction as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), a great risk is posed to Harper's campus and community itself.
While Harper does already have some protections in place to protect its students from ICE, they do not go nearly far enough to be able meet the needs that our current moment demands in order to fully protect our community.
We, the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) at Harper College, strongly oppose these attacks against students, faculty, and community members and we find Harper's lack of action completely unacceptable. We call on the Harper College President, Dr. Avis Proctor, to make our campus a sanctuary campus, commit to protecting Harper students, and meet the following demands:
1) Harper must send out an emergency alerts via the Harper Alerts system to all students and staff if ICE is
confirmed to be on or nearby campus
2) Continue to refuse to comply with immigration authorities regarding deportations or raids and bar ICE from coming onto campus without a judicial warrant.
3) Continue to provide free immigration legal aid on campus to Harper students
4) Establish a Full-time Undocumented Student Liaison as a dedicated stand-alone position on all Harper campuses and the creation of an Undocumented Student Resource Center.
5) Full Training for all faculty and staff on how to respond and deal with ICE in the
event that they come on campus
Sponsored by
To:
Dr. Avis Proctor
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Dr. Proctor,
As members of the Harper College community, we express deep concern regarding the attacks on our immigrant communities across the country by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the direction of the Trump administration. We are seeing our community members, even right here in the northwest suburbs, arrested, taken, and deported, sometimes even to countries in which they have no connections. Furthermore, this past year we have also seen rampant attacks on international students, with many being targeted by the Trump administration for their political action and having their visas revoked and deported. With ICE raids recently reported in the area, a large amount of immigrant and international students at Harper, and distinction as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), a great risk is posed to our campus and community at large. While Harper does already have some protections in place to protect its students from ICE, they do not go far enough. Harper is lagging behind on what the moment necessitates. We call on you to make our campus a sanctuary campus to protect students and meet the following demands:
1) Harper must send out an emergency alerts via the Harper Alerts system to all students and staff if ICE is confirmed to be on or nearby campus
2) Continue to refuse to comply with immigration authorities regarding deportations or raids and bar ICE from coming onto campus without a judicial warrant.
3) Continue to provide free immigration legal aid on campus to Harper students
4) Establish a Full-time Undocumented Student Liaison as a dedicated stand-alone position on all Harper campuses and the creation of an Undocumented Student Resource Center.
5) Full Training for all faculty and staff on how to respond and deal with ICE in the
event that they come on campus.