Seattle University 901 12th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122

Seattle University Office of the President, Administration

Dear Pres. Eduardo Peñalver, Provost Shane P. Martin, Vice Pres. Mary S. Petersen, Senior Vice Provost Tamara A. Herdener, Dean Anthony E. Varona, Dean James Willette, et al.,

We, the undersigned students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members of Seattle University and the Seattle University School of Law, write to you not as distant observers but as people deeply invested in the lives, safety, and dignity of our loved ones within our university community. We represent a broad coalition of individuals who believe that a Jesuit education must be more than words- it must be action in the face of injustice. Our friends, classmates, coworkers, and former students are being targeted. Our university's values are being tested. We write to call for clarity, coordination, and action to protect our community.

On Monday, April 14th, President Donald Trump met with the Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele regarding the wrongful rendition of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT Prior to this meeting, the United States Supreme Court ordered that the Trump administration facilitate Garcia's return to his family.[1] Upon being asked by a reporter how Trump planned to carry out the Supreme Court's order, Trump joked with Bukele, handwaved away his responsibility, and declared open defiance of the ruling.[2] Later, Trump was overheard discussing plans with Bukele to build additional prisons like CECOT to imprison "homegrown" American citizens.[3] To whatever extent we have enjoyed a presumed assurance of due process in the United States, it ended during this meeting.

This is the threat—at least 250 immigrants have been detained, denied due process, and renditioned to CECOT with life sentences, in open defiance of federal court orders.[4] Teenagers without any criminal allegations have been detained by ICE without cause and sent to CECOT.[5] All are now serving life sentences in inhumane conditions without having ever stood in a courtroom.[6] DHS agents have targeted and arrested immigrant and international students, including green card holders, for protected political speech.[7] Locally, dozens of working people were detained in a Bellingham ICE raid, leaving families without loved ones and separating parents from their children.[8] University of Washington lab technician Lyn Dixon, a longtime Seattleite and green card holder, has been detained and sent to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, which has been accused of enabling overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and abuse.[9]

There is no court proceeding necessary to determine what is occurring. The federal government is promising to expand its vision for mass deportation to anyone it deems undesirable.[10] They are creating registries and expanding the definition of criminal to include almost all undocumented immigrants.[11] They are revoking or attempting to revoke the protected legal statuses of hundreds of thousands without cause, including over a thousand international students.[12] They are rushing those detained across state lines to sabotage their rights to counsel.[13] They are breathing life back into Korematsu v. United States. [14]

In times like these, the Jesuit Catholic tradition imposes duties onto us all. It calls upon the tradition of Fr. Adam Sztark SJ;[15] of Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría SJ.[16]It calls us to protect the vulnerable. It calls us to serve the Magis.[17]

Six recent Seattle University graduates have already been targeted by the Trump administration. [18] Although their visas have been reinstated, the administration is promising to target more. [19] We cannot rely on the formalist protective measures of the past. As of April 14th, logistics, not legality, is the primary barrier preventing our peers from being arbitrarily detained, deported, disappeared, or renditioned to foreign prisons. What will stand between them and federal repression are the protective measures the Seattle University community puts in place right now.

As Seattle University community members and as people who do not want our loved ones in danger, we, the undersigned, request clarity on the following items, which we view as a precondition toward fulfilling the duties of a Jesuit Social Justice University.

As Seattle University community members and as people who do not want our loved ones in danger, we, the undersigned, request clarity on the following items, which we view as a precondition toward fulfilling the duties of a Jesuit Social Justice University.

1. DHS, ICE, and associated law enforcement activity on campus present a risk of significant interference with the Seattle University educational environment. Accordingly, we ask:

a. Will the University implement an additional alert, under the Omni Alert system, for confirmed DHS, ICE, or associated law enforcement activity, on or near campus, thus ensuring staff and the student body can take appropriate steps to avoid the area?[20]

b. Will the University commit to circulating information regarding reporting procedures so that students, faculty, and staff may promptly report DHS, ICE, and associated law enforcement activity?

c. Will the University produce a list, or preferably a map, of all properties Seattle University owns (residential, commercial, and educational), and clarify which specific areas are more likely to be considered private, and thus potentially subject to requirements for a signed lawful warrant, versus public, and thus more vulnerable to DHS, ICE, and associated law enforcement raids and subsequent secondary pickups?

d. Will the University clarify its own policies and procedures to ensure that any compliance with DHS, ICE, or associated law enforcement warrants is contingent upon a lawful court order signed by a judge, rather than an administrative warrant?[21]

2. The University requires a robust plan to address legal action against students, faculty, and staff, including, but not limited to, detainment, arrest, deportation, rendition, loss of legal status, or suppression of free speech, from DHS, ICE, and associated law enforcement. Accordingly, we ask:

a. What are the University's safeguards for not just consultation, but the prompt provision of legal services to students, faculty, and staff?

b. Will the University dedicate funds to contracting with a third-party firm or attorney who specializes in immigration or criminal law for the representation of students, faculty, and staff?

c. Will the University amend its policy to allow its legal clinics to represent students, faculty, and staff?

d. Will the University provide and facilitate form-filler clinics for students, faculty, and staff, and notify them of this opportunity?

e. Will the University formalize relationships with firms or attorneys willing to represent students, faculty, and staff pro bono?

3. The University has discretion over which disciplinary records to maintain and how long to maintain them. Students are concerned that University disciplinary records will be misused to stifle political dissent. Accordingly, we ask:

a. Will the University, considering the threat of government misuse of disciplinary records for political ends, substantively review its student, faculty, and staff campus demonstration policies and narrow these associated restrictions to electoral advocacy?[22]

b. Will the University, using its discretion in its next annual Code of Conduct review, vacate individual decisions relating to political action or dissent regarding any national or international political issue?

c. Will the University also commit to reviewing the length of time that records of lower-level infractions are stored?

4. Allowing international students to maintain their regular course of study is legally necessary to prevent them from falling out of status and eventually becoming unlawfully present in the United States.[23] Accordingly, we ask:

a. What safeguards will the University implement to prevent international students from accruing unlawful status despite a SEVIS status termination, should the Trump Administration again issue visa revocations?

b. Will the University commit to, at a minimum, providing a full course load through

5. FLEX and/or virtual programming to students whose SEVIS status has been revoked? Because the University receives federal funding, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits Seattle University from disclosing education records, disciplinary records, or personally identifiable information from those records without first obtaining the students' written consent.[24] Accordingly, we ask:

a. Will the University commit to full compliance with all regulations of FERPA even if the government withholds, or threatens to withhold, federal funding?

b. Will the University commit to providing training regarding the disclosure of sensitive and non-criminal student information, such as, but not limited to, legal status, immigration status, or disciplinary history?

6. The University has published some initial guidance for students, faculty, and staff in the event of DHS, ICE, and associated law enforcement agents entering campus.[25] Accordingly, we ask:

a. What plans are there to regularly review, update, and circulate this information to the entire University community?

b. Will the University commit to training students about their rights with DHS, ICE, and law enforcement as part of the programming for student orientations?

c. Will the University commit to training faculty and staff about their rights with DHS, ICE, and law enforcement as part of employment onboarding?

d. Will the University commit to educating students, faculty, and staff about the limitations of the public versus private space distinctions to prevent false assurances of safety and legal protection?[26]

7. Assuming the University commits to enacting any or all of the actions delineated above, will it remain steadfast in those commitments to students, faculty, and staff, even in the face of possible government retaliation?

We recognize that the challenges before us are vast, but so too is the moral responsibility demanded of us as members of a Jesuit, Catholic institution. We cannot be neutral in times of injustice. Seattle University must act now, with clarity, with courage, and with a steadfast commitment to the dignity and safety of every member of its community.

We call upon you, President Peñalver, Vice President Petersen, Provost Martin, Senior Vice Provost Herdener, Dean Varona, Dean Willette and all university leadership, to join in solidarity with us. To join in solidarity with the vulnerable. To ensure that our university remains not just a place of learning, but a sanctuary where justice is not only taught but lived.

We look forward to your timely response and to working together to fulfill the mission that defines Seattle University.

Sincerely
[Your Name/Organization]

[1] Nina Totenburg & Christina Gatti, Supreme Court Says Trump Officials Should Help Return Wrongly Deported Maryland Man, NPR (Apr. 10, 2025), https://www.npr.org/2025/04/10/nx-s1-5358421/supreme-court-abrego-garcia-deportation- decision [https://archive.is/G5k9d].

[2] Andrew Perez, Trump Admin Argues It Doesn't Have to Bring Back Man It Illegally Shipped to El Salvador, ROLLING STONE (Apr. 13, 2025), https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-defies-supreme-court-deported-man-el- salvador-prison-1235316677/[https://archive.is/8iLeG].

[3] Michelle Stoddart, Homegrowns Are Next': Trump Doubles Down on Sending American 'Criminals' to Foreign Prisons, ABC NEWS (Apr. 14, 2025), https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/homegrowns-trump-doubles-sending-convicted-us-citizens- foreign/story?id=120802863 [https://archive.is/cJE61].

[4] Neri Alvarado Borges was deemed a member of the gang Tren de Aragua for having a tattoo, an autism awareness ribbon he had inked out of love for his younger brother. See Noah Lanard & Isabela Dias, "You're Here Because of Your Tattoos", MOTHER JONES (Mar. 26, 2025), https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/trump-el-salvador- venezuela-deportation-prison-cecot-bukele/| https://archive.is/HQglc]. Andrys José Hernández Romero, a makeup artist who had an ongoing asylum claim, was renditioned for having tattooed "mom" and "dad" onto his wrists. See Kelby Vera, Gay Venezuelan Makeup Artist among Hundreds Deported Without Due Process, HUFFPOST (Mar. 23, 2025), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gay-venezuelan-makeup-artist-deported_n_67e05688e4b0dbd2dbaf96f5/.Judge James Boasberg specifically ordered that any planes in the air carrying the 200+ Venezuelan immigrants be turned back and those individuals returned to the US, yet the Trump administration allowed the rendition to CECOT to continue without interruption. See J.G.G V. Trump, No. 1:25-cv-00766-JEB (D.D.C. Mar. 28, 2025)

[5] See Paz Radovic, ICE Took His Son from Their Bronx Apartment. Now He's in El Salvador's Mega-Prison., THE CITY (Apr. 14, 2025), https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/04/14/bronx-ice-merwil-gutierrez-el-salvador/ht Merwil Gutierrez, age 19, had just returned from helping a friend at the American Red Cross when ICE stopped him and two others, steps from his home. Witnesses report that an agent stated "No, he's not the one," after detaining Gutierrez. It didn't matter. The other agent replied, "Take him anyway," and he was.

[6] "[In CECOT, these men] entered their cold cells, 80 men per cell, with steel planks for bunks, no mats, no sheets, no pillow. No television. No books. No talking. No phone calls and no visitors. For these Venezuelans, it was not just a prison they had arrived at. It was exile to another world, a place SO cold and far from home they may as well have been sent into space, nameless and forgotten." Philip Holsinger, What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced, TIME (Mar. 21, 2025), https://time.com/7269604/el-salvador-photos-venezuelan-detainees/[https://archive.is/OtzZ7]; see also Daniella Silva, Why Experts Fear the Men Who Were Sent to El Salvador's Megaprison May Never Make It Out, NBC NEWS (Mar. 20, 2025) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/venezuelans-deported-el-salvador-detention-abuses- rcna197125 [https://archive.is/1Crmy].

[7] Masked ICE agents detained Rümeysa Öztürk, a Fulbright Scholar, and revoked her visa without evidence, seemingly for having written a political op-ed in the college newspaper. See John Hudson, No Evidence Linking Tufts Student to Antisemitism or Terrorism, State Dept. Office Found, WASH. POST (Apr. 14, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/13/tufts-student-rumeysa-ozturk-rubio-trump/.Moshen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student activist and committed pacifist, was arrested for his political speech at his citizenship interview. Walsh & Lilia Luciano, Palestinian Columbia Activist Mohsen Mahdawi Arrested by DHS at Citizenship Interview, CBS NEWS (Apr. 14, 2025), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mohsen-mahdawi-palestinian-columbia-activist-arrested trump-administration-mahmoud-khalil/[https://archive.is/EmlMA]. Yungseo Chung, a green card holder, was forced into hiding to prevent ICE from detaining her without evidence and renditioning her to a Louisiana ICE facility. Chung has since received a TRO blocking ICE from detaining her. See Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Deporting 21-Year-Old Columbia Protester and Green Card Holder, CBS NEWS (Mar. 25, 2025) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yunseo-chung-columbia-student-south-korea-ice-deportation/ [https://archive.is/XX8DHJ.

[8] Deon Hampton & Carmen Sesin, Roofer Says ICE Arrested Three of His Relatives in a Workplace Raid, NBC NEWS (Apr. 4, 2025), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/roofer-says-ice-arrested-three-relatives-workplace-raid-rcna19978 [https://archive.is/1uCv0]

[9] Kimmy Yan, Family Calls for Release of Woman Legally in U.S. for 50 Years and Now
Detained by ICE, NBC News (Mar 26, 2025), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/green-card-holder-50-years-detained-ice-rcna198044 [https://archive.is/GJsO9]; Human Rights at Home: Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center, UNIV. WASH.: CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (2022),https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/projects/human-rights-at-home/conditions-at-the- northwest-detention-center/[https://archive.is/Bu6WC].

[10] Stoddart, supra note 3.

[11] Dawn Lurie & Sami Bloom, The New Immigration Registry: What You Need to Know, SEYFARTH SHAW LLP: BIG IMMIGRATION LAW BLOG (Apr. 11, 2025), https://www.bigimmigrationlawblog.com/2025/04/the-new-immigration- registry-what-you-need-to-know/[https://archive.is/bj5NJ].

[12] Ted Hesson, Trump Revokes Legal Status for 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, Reuters, Mar. 21, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-revokes-legal-status-530000-cubans-haitians-nicaraguans-venezuelans-2025- 5-21/[https://archive.is/Pblwe]; Ashley Mowreader, International Student Visas Revoked, INSIDE HIGHER ED. (2025), /www.insidehighered.com/news/global/international-students-us/2025/04/07/where-students-have-had-their- visas-revoked [https://archive.is/OhlSI].

[13] Alex Woodward, Why Trump Is Jailing Student Activists in Louisiana, Where Thousands of Immigrants Are Detained in Private Prisons, THE INDEPENDENT (Apr. 14, 2025), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice- detention-louisiana-khalil-ozturk-b2731976.html [https://archive.is/L00hq].

[14] Camilo Pérez-Bustillo, Trump Revived the Law Used to Intern Japanese Americans, and SCOTUS Let Him, TRUTHOUT (Apr. 9, 2025), https://truthout.org/articles/trump-revived-the-law-used-to-intern-japanese-americans-and-scotus-let-him [https://archive.is/Ag1cWJ.

[15] Fr. Adam Sztark SJ, during the Nazi occupation of Poland, rallied his congregation to defend their Jewish neighbors, both by declaring open solidarity and by coordinating safe passage into hiding. See Appendix: Biographies of Jesuit Righteous Among the Nations, 5 J. JESUIT STUD. 256, 264-65 (2018).

[16] Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría SJ, liberation theologian, rector, and professor of Universidad Centroamericana during the 1980s, publicly advocated for peace and justice on behalf of the poor despite fierce repression by the Salvadoran army. See William Bole, Jesuits Reflect on the Legacy of the El Salvador Martyrs, JESUITS (Nov. 13, 2014), ://www.jesuits.org/stories/twenty-five-years-after-a-massacre-jesuits-reflect-on-the-meaning-and-the-martyrdom, [https://archive.is/TOCOR].

[17] Magis meaning more. The term traditionally used by St. Ignatius and the Jesuits to suggest the spirit of generous excellence--striving for the greater good--that drives Jesuit ministries. See Seattle University, Jesuitology: Jesuit Terms, SEATTLEU.EDU (last visited May 1, 2025 https://www.seattleu.edu/who-we-are/jesuit-education/jesuitology/ [https://archive.is/znPOP].

[18] Office of the Provost oral communications, Seattle University (Apr., 2025).

[19] Julia Ainsley, Inside the DHS Task Force Scouring Foreign Students' Social Media, NBC NEWS (Apr. 9, 2025), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/dhs-task-force-scouring-foreign-students-social-media- cna198532 [https://archive.is/p2Tuil ("[The] Department of Homeland Security task force is using data analytic tools to scour the social media histories of the estimated 1.5 million foreign students studying in the United States for potential grounds to revoke their visas."); Donald Trump Wants to Deport Foreign Students Merely for What They Say, THE ECONOMIST (Apr. 10, 2025), ), https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/04/10/donald-trump-wants-to-deport-foreign- students-merely-for-what-they-say.

[20] We define "on or near campus" as any point within 2000 feet of any Seattle University owned properties, including properties not designated for educational purposes.

[21] Eva Wen & Mary Spicuzza, In Immigration Enforcement, What Is the Difference Between Judicial and Administrative Warrants?, MILWAUKEE J. SENTINEL (Apr. 23, 2025),https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2025/04/23/what-is-the- difference-between-ice-administrative-judicial-warrants/83219950007/1 [https://archive.is/qqV11].

[22] We define "campus demonstration policies" as including, but not limited to, time, place, and manner restrictions on students, faculty, and staff's political advocacy.

[23] During oral arguments in John Doe V. Kristi Noem, the federal defender suggested that the termination of Student Doe's SEVIS status, and his subsequent inability to attend class after being notified of the termination by the University of Washington, could potentially constitute grounds for the alleged failure to maintain status. A TRO has been granted for a doctoral student at UW, issuing that the defendant shall not terminate the student's record and I-20 in SEVIS absent valid grounds as set forth in 8 C.F.R. IS 14.1(d)-(g) and 214.2(f), and ordering the defendant cannot (1) transfer Doe out of jurisdiction or (2) detain Doe as a result of the termination of his F-1 student record or I-20 in SEVIS. Given the administration's ignorance of federal court orders, this TRO is not enough to enjoin such arbitrary and capricious terminations of SEVIS status. We urge the University to protect students from such retroactive enforcement by allowing students to attend their full course of study despite the termination of their SEVIS termination so Kristi Noem cannot invoke this secondary reason for establishing grounds for an F-1 student's out of status. See John Doe, Plaintiff, V. Kristi Noem et al., Defendants. No. 3:25-CV-00023, 2025 WL 1161386, at *1 (W.D. Va. Apr. 21, 2025); A student may fall out of F-1 status by: (1) failing to meet the regulatory requirements for F-1 student status or (2) via an agency related termination of status. See 8 C.F.R. IS 214.1(d), 214.2(f51v); DHS can terminate an F-1 student's status in three ways: 1) by revoking a previously authorized waiver under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d3) or $1182(d4); through the introduction of aprivate bill in Congress to confer permanent resident status; or 3) if DHS publishes a notification in the Federal Register, on the basis of national security, diplomatic, or public safety reasons. 8 C.F.R. § 214.1(d DHS's ability to terminate an F-1 student's status is limited to the three ways enumerated in § 214.1(d). See Jie Fang V. Dir. U.S. Immigr. & Cust. Enft, 935 F.3d 172, 185 (3d Cir. 2019).

[24] 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b), (d); 34 C.F.R. pt. 99; West V. TESC Bd. of Trustees, 3 Wn. App. 2d 112, 120, 414 P.3d 614, 618 (2018).

[25] E-mail from Eduardo M. Peñalver, President, Seattle Univ., to author (April 8th, 2025, 14:36 PST) (on file with author).

[26] See, e.g., Piazzola V. Watkins, 442 F.2d 284, 289 (5th Cir. 1971); Com. V. Neilson, 666 N.E.2d 984 (Mass. 1996) (recognizing that college student had legitimate expectation of privacy in dorm room); State V. Houvner, 186 6 P.3d 370 (Wash. App. 2008) (holding reasonable expectation of privacy in shared hallway of dormitory floor But see Grubbs V. State, 173 S.W.3 (2005) (holding that resident assistant of university was authorized under university policy to enter student's dormitory room without a warrant following complaint concerning odor of marijuana coming from room).