Almost 200 University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) staff and faculty members are demanding the university implement ‘sanctuary campus’ policies, claiming illegal immigrants “feel under siege and live in fear of deportation.”
The faculty members signed the pro-sanctuary campus petition, sending it to UCCS Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak, according to The Gazette.
With expectations that President-Elect Donald Trump will implement stricter immigration policies to include ending President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and building a border wall, faculty want campus a policy that will shield illegal immigrant students from federal law.
In one claim of the petition, professors allege that illegal immigrants on campus, their families, and faculty members were being harassed at an unprecedented rate.
“Some of our students, staff, campus employees and their families are now the targets of vitriol and hate crimes,” the petition reads. “They feel under siege and live in fear of deportation. These attacks on immigrants and their families undermine our community and threaten our educational mission, since a secure environment is a prerequisite for learning.”
UCCS spokesman Tom Hutton said there have been no reports of physical violence on campus against students, adding that smaller alleged incidents involving “negative verbal encounters and written postings” have occurred.
The petition demands that officers with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency be banned from the university’s campus. Also banned, under the petition, would be any communication with ICE about a students’ immigration status.
UCCS faculty members also want a university-wide denouncement of so-called “hate speech” against illegal immigrants and “provide confidential counseling and legal services” for them, according to the Gazette.
Hutton admits that banning ICE officials and refusing to comply with federal immigration law is illegal and not something the university can take on without the threat of seeing their public funding stripped.
Recently, Harvard University shot down the proposal of a sanctuary campus policy, citing that it held no legal bearing, Breitbart Texas reported.
Under Trump and incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions, sanctuary cities, which protect criminal illegal immigrants from deportation, will see their Department of Justice (DOJ) funding end, as Breitbart Texas previously reported.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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