Since Trump’s DACA announcement, politicians and large companies, like Apple and Microsoft, have come out in full support of DACA recipients. They’ve ensured that their constituents or employees will not face legal ramifications or deportation, that they will do everything in their power to keep them in the United States. And lately, universities across the country have done the same.
The Trump Administration’s announcement caused quite the ripple on college campuses, given that 51% of the nearly 1.2 million DACA-eligible population are either high school or college students, according to The Hechinger Report. Even before his announcement, multiple college presidents – from institutions like Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Brown – wrote personal letters to the President, pleading for protection of DACA recipients, states The Atlantic. Not to mention, shortly after President Trump’s election win in November 2016, more than 600 college and university presidents signed a petition in support of DACA.
But since the announcement, universities as whole institutions, have come out to voice support for their DACA students. According to USA Today College, they include:
Many of these universities share the same sentiments – support for their students that are Dreamers and a shared responsibility to embrace those students with acceptance. Some universities have encouraged students, faculty and staff and administrators to contact Congress and advocate on behalf of their fellow students. But Harvard University is truly going above and beyond – which isn’t at all surprising. After all, it’s Harvard. The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) at Harvard Law School hired a full-time attorney to provide legal services, as reported by USA Today College. The university is also offering guidance, weekly support groups and individual counsel to DACA students in addition to a 24/7 hotline for undocumented students. Finally, the university has composed a list of attorneys offering to work pro bono for affected students. Since the Trump Administration announcement, the President has gone back and forth on his support for DACA and all of its recipients. He has also saddled Congress with the burden of figuring out DACA in addition to a potential immigration overhaul within the next few months. Essentially, DACA is up in the air, but with plenty of support from colleges and universities, DACA recipients can be rest assured that they have more support from their administrators, mentors and peers than not.
- University of California Berkeley
- Harvard University
- University of Oregon
- California State University
- University of Virginia
- Indiana University
- Santa Clara University
- Cornell University
- Princeton University
- Stanford University
- Elon University
- University of Minnesota
- Ohio State University
- City University of New York
Many of these universities share the same sentiments – support for their students that are Dreamers and a shared responsibility to embrace those students with acceptance. Some universities have encouraged students, faculty and staff and administrators to contact Congress and advocate on behalf of their fellow students. But Harvard University is truly going above and beyond – which isn’t at all surprising. After all, it’s Harvard. The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) at Harvard Law School hired a full-time attorney to provide legal services, as reported by USA Today College. The university is also offering guidance, weekly support groups and individual counsel to DACA students in addition to a 24/7 hotline for undocumented students. Finally, the university has composed a list of attorneys offering to work pro bono for affected students. Since the Trump Administration announcement, the President has gone back and forth on his support for DACA and all of its recipients. He has also saddled Congress with the burden of figuring out DACA in addition to a potential immigration overhaul within the next few months. Essentially, DACA is up in the air, but with plenty of support from colleges and universities, DACA recipients can be rest assured that they have more support from their administrators, mentors and peers than not.
