By now a great majority of the country seems to have arrived at the stage of the worst political hangover any of us have ever experienced. Yet no one is feeling this hangover more so than the undocumented community. This election represents both the rise of fascism, and, literally, an existential threat to students and their families nationwide, including and especially the nearly 1 million college students that have been enrolled under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“The candidate who began his campaign with anti-Mexican hate, promising to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. The candidate who has a disturbing record of sexually assaulting women and allegedly raping women. The candidate who promised to ban Muslims from entering this country. The man who mocks our disabled brothers and sisters. The candidate who is queerphobic with his support of right wing homophobic right wing extremists. And the man who hates the Black Lives Matter movement and Black people in general. This is the person who was elected president in 2016.”
Part of the political climate necessitates also challenging the mainstream narrative that the GOP nominee won handily and thus has a mandate, especially in regard to his immigration policies. It is projected that, when all the votes are counted, his opponent will have won by some 2 million votes. Donald Trump’s rise to power will have been the result the Electoral College, and not the will of the people.
Despite this, it is reassuring to hear the public pronouncements of strength and of courage among the leadership of the undocumented community. There indeed is resistance, and yet, at minimum, there is chaos, because every single person in this category is theoretically at risk, just like in the current administration, in which the priority was supposed to have been violent criminals. Instead, people who simply have come into the country to work, sometimes more than once, are considered felons. The web of who is considered a criminal has been greatly expanded by the current administration and that web can be expected to be cast even wider by the new administration.
While the current administration has deported close to 3 million people in 8 years, the GOP nominee campaigned on the promise to deport 11 million within 18 months with a special deportation force. He now says he will target 3 million criminals immediately. On top of that, he continues to insist on building a 2,000-mile wall, plus he also promises to expand the border patrol threefold. He also has promised to dismantle DACA upon being sworn in. This in large part is the reason for what can at best be described as “uncertainty.”
The specter of immigration raids conjures up Nazi Germany, of going door-to-door, including at schools, colleges and universities. This has also sparked a nationwide movement to create sanctuary colleges and universities as no-go areas for immigration and police authorities. This is but the beginning of many other resistance movements, which also includes calling upon faculty and administrations to provide both haven and continuing support for DACA students.
