A Conversation with the Community College Addressing Our Responsibilities to Undocumented Students

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A version of this is published in the current issue of the LSCS Advocate.
Part 2 is here.

Our Undocumented Students and the Union’s Responsibilities
Politics exists because those who have no right to be counted as speaking beings make themselves of some account. (Jacques Rancière)
On 5 September 2017, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced that DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) will be rescinded in six months. We’re going to address this issue to clarify what DACA is (and what it isn’t), why this should matter to us as members of a labor union, and what we can do.


In his announcement, Sessions repeated multiple specious claims and “alternative facts” about DACA, migrants, jobs, and public safety:
  1. Sessions repeatedly uses the terminology “illegal aliens,” which, although we may hear it frequently, is not a legal term in the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it conflates the act of crossing the border illegally with an ongoing legal investigation and criminal status. It’s a term most frequently associated with nativism and xenophobia.
  2. Sessions claims that DACA gave unilateral “amnesty” or “legal status” for recipients. In fact, from the time of its announcement, the program has always been clearly explained as a temporary reprieve from threats of deportation, not lawful status or steps towards citizenship.
  3. The attorney general also claims that the executive order instituting DACA led to a “surge of unaccompanied minors” crossing the border, despite the fact that the Migration Policy Institute and a Congressional Report on Immigration have shown no such significant uptick correlating with the announcement of DACA.
  4. Sessions points out that DACA gives recipients the ability to participate in Social Security, a claim that is true because recipients are eligible for work permits. However, stated as he does, it serves to erase the reality that DACA recipients are teenagers and young adults (with a current average age of about 23) who will in fact pay into Social Security for many decades before they will receive any of the benefits granted to workers in the US.
  5. Sessions claims that migrants threaten “taxpayers” and put American citizens “at risk of crime, violence and even terrorism.” In fact, migrant families just in Harris County provide $3.2 billion each year, including Lone Star College System taxes.  
  6. The Attorney General claims that DACA “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans,” a claim that is based on no real research and that positions immigrants as ‘taking’ jobs instead of participating lawfully in the US workforce and economy. We reject the idea that DACA recipients should be thought of only or primarily in terms of their effects on the economy; however, contrary to the insinuations of this administration, DACA recipients have actually added billions to the national economy. In addition, a 2016 study in Economics Letters found that DACA-eligible households were 38% less likely than non-eligible unauthorized immigrant households to live in poverty.
  7. Sessions ties DACA to a general “failure to enforce immigration laws” and therefore to crime, terrorism, “corruption, poverty, and human suffering.” However much he implies it, though, DACA recipients and their families are not more likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens, and in fact having a clean criminal record has been a requirement to apply for DACA. In addition, multiple studies show that migrant communities often are more safe than surrounding “native” communities.
  8. Sessions claims that DACA is “an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch.” Though the Fifth Circuit Court argued against DACA, it did so not based on its constitutionality, but only on Texas’s claim that the state would incur costs by issuing driver’s licenses or being forced to change licensing laws.
In summary, Sessions, as the nation’s top law enforcer, echoes the cynical appeals of the President to appeal to his base’s most xenophobic populist sentiments, and further demonstrates a blatant attempt to divide the working class by playing native-born workers against immigrants. As with the President’s recent pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the message is clear: this administration stands with the nativists in rejecting communities of color and people of good will who understand that America’s greatest strength comes from inclusivity, not exclusion. The community college’s strengths come from inclusivity, not exclusion.

Canceling DACA Threatens the Union and the College

We should remember that the hegemony is effective in dividing disempowered people through fear, hatred, and xenophobia. Most DACA recipients come from working- and poverty-class families, and most are are employed, which means that we see the administration’s decision to rescind DACA is an attack on all working class families and all workers. As members of a labor union, we should see such an attack of state institutions as one that hurts all of us, documented or not.


In short, DACA has benefitted hundreds of thousands of families in the United States, including hundreds of thousands in Texas and thousands of students at Lone Star College and local primary and secondary public schools. At least 124,000 Texan students and workers were approved for DACA before the administration announced that the program will be rescinded. Further, thousands more student family members have benefited from DACA. Lone Star College is stronger because of these migrant families and the college has benefited the community. Now, college students — our students, our community families — are threatened.


We call union members to become more aware and more assertive in defending our undocumented communities. AFT has collaborated with United We Dream to protect undocumented students in primary and secondary education. Now, we must address the needs of minor and of-age students in college who pay taxes, pay tuition and fees, and enroll in college to strengthen their families and our communities. In solidarity, we must collaborate with the college system to provide guidance and resources for faculty and staff to support and prepare undocumented students and their families for changes in immigration law.

What we can do:

  • As citizens:
    • Call your US representatives, especially in the House, and show unwavering support for a legislative bill that will continue and expand DACA. If you’re not sure who represents you in the House, visit www.house.gov to find their information.
    • Educate yourself about the current fight for DACA and other legislation, such as Texas’s SB4, that harms migrant communities on campus.
  • As educators:
    • Be aware that you have students who are DACA recipients, and even more who are undocumented or have undocumented family members.
    • Remember that undocumented students are heterogeneous and have differing experiences.
    • Openly introduce yourself as someone who supports undocumented students without asking students to identify.
    • Be mindful of your language choices, such as the distinction between “illegal” and “undocumented.”
    • Consider adding resources for undocumented students, such found at www.unitedwedream.org, to your curriculum and course information.
  • As a union:
  • As a college:
    • Recognize a transnational and migrant community that brings academic and social strengths. Openly address migration in our curriculums, college forums, hiring, and speech freedom for students.
    • Lead the nation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, collect narratives from DACA recipients, Dreamers, and undocumented students, and provide multiple social and financial resources to protect the community.
    • Advocate real national immigration reform and supportive state laws.

In our future issue, we will address the State of Texas’s threat to students 2017 SB4 and how union members can further support our students and staff.

Resources

“Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).” US Citizenship and Immigration Services. n.d.
“Houston Metro Area.” The New American Economy. 2015.
Trump's Harsh Message to Immigrants Could Drag on Economy. NY Times. 6 September 2017.
"Can authorization reduce poverty among undocumented immigrants? Evidence from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program". Economics Letters. 2016.

"AFT pledges to protect undocumented students and educators.” American Federation of Teachers. 28 Nov 2016.


Be strong, and courageous.
Dixi et salvavi animam meam
Twitter @comstone

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