On May 8, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against New Mexico and her municipalities, alleging that our communities have violated the Supremacy Clause which gives the federal government authority to operate within our state in the fashion they see fit. If successful, it would essentially become illegal for New Mexico or her cities to refuse to work with ICE in its efforts of mass deporting immigrant workers and asylum seekers.
On September 23 at 8:22 p.m., the UNM student body gave their response. The ASUNM Student Senate passed Resolution 1F in a resounding 16-2 vote, protecting our campus from engaging and cooperating with Trump’s ICE, protecting the scholarships of foreign students, advocating the safety of quasi-public spaces like Frontier, and most of all — protecting the rights of undocumented students.
According to Senator Gutierrez, one of the resolution’s sponsors, there are at least 300 undocumented students here at UNM. According to the sponsor and author of the resolution, Senator Bearden, he has heard of at least 3 incidents of ICE removing a student from our campus.
Many people of conservative mindsets may believe that undocumented immigrants do not have a place at our school or within our community. I am proud to say that the UNM student body stands against this notion. Another one of the resolution’s sponsors, Senator Ramirez, says it best, “I do not believe the number matters ... even if it is just one person they are worth protecting.” Many people gave similar voice to support this resolution, such as ASUNM Director of Housing and Campus Affairs Jan Poreba and State Senator Cindy Nava who shared her own experiences as a once member of the DACA program herself.
Of course ICE is not known for only deporting criminals who endanger other people, as Trump’s America has issued over 440,000 removal orders for asylum seekers according to the Washington Post. According to NBC, within the first 9 months of deportations under Trump, two thirds had not been convicted of any other crime. We are constantly reminded of students like Yunseo Chung who had her Green Card revoked by the Trump administration for her articles in student newspapers just like this one.
Now that our own student body has done the hard work of making this statement, comes the hard work of making sure its spirit is followed through. ASUNM Student Senator and DSA member Jonah Bearden said of the resolution, “I am incredibly humbled to have had the privilege and platform to be able to put together a statement like this for our student body. I am proud of ASUNM and the many voices and sources who helped us to legitimize the appeal for governing officials’ support.”
The DSA calls on our local City Councilors to support us in this effort. This work does not end here, and we need the support of Councilors like Telles and Rogers if we are to make any headway in protecting these students who belong on our campus from the vile grip of Donald Trump.
- UNM YDSA Member Thomas Abeyta
