UCLA students are redefining the word sanctuary
Student activists at UCLA are pushing for less talk about keeping immigrants safe and more action to do so, and to influence more than just the campus but the city.
Both UCLA and the county it resides in have more than 50% of their campus identifying as minorities, but both have been declined the status of sanctuary by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Chancellor Gene Block. The student of UCLA are hoping to change that, being the first domino in the ripple effect. Over 150 students attended a town hall meeting organized by their Student Labor Advocacy Project to discuss the 15-point proposal of demands given to Chancellor Block.
The meeting featured speakers from student advocacy groups ICE out of LA Coalition to even custodial workers, worried for their safety and well-being and anxious to declare UCLA as a sanctuary campus.
One of the leaders of the movement on campus Dana Carrera said, “We want protection for UCLA students, patients and employees y sus familias,” ending her sentence with the Spanish words in support of the families and workers around her.
The sentiments were echoed across the room but some students worried about how the campus was to institute concrete change after the demands are sent.
Students gave their own definition of sanctuary, some stating that they want students and police forces to build a strong defense by going out and blocking deportation vans and flooding Facebook in support of an immigrant. Others expressed mistrust that it is the same law enforcement officials who are currently deporting people that they want to protect them.
One undocumented student who wished to be unidentified stated, “I looked out my window and what did I see? ICE vans, and right behind them were the LAPD!”
This is just one of the many debates across the country on what it means to be a sanctuary institution for undocumented individuals.
“In many ways, ‘sanctuary’ is such a large label that, to some extent, it’s been both used by people who support the idea as a badge of honor and, at the same time, by people who oppose it,” says Hiroshi Motomura, an immigration law expert at UCLA.
A student spoke out to say that each person and community has to define sanctuary themselves to meet the need of their environment. This could mean turning ICE agents away or maybe even housing undocumented immigrants to keep them safe, remanent of World War Two and the Holocaust.
An activist who lead the group in rally chants affirmed that no matter the technicalities, sanctuary campuses and cities are definitely a step in the right direction, stating, “The ICE is an giant octopus looming over the country and sanctuaries cut up its tentacles one by one. And what do you make tentacles? Ceviche!”
