Members Ready to Protect and Advocate for the Rights, Dignity, and Success of Immigrant Students, Faculty, Staff

The following was written by CFA’s Immigration Task Force:

In 2017, our union rejected the immigration policies put forth by the Trump Administration and we vowed to protect and defend our faculty, our students, and our staff. As a union committed to anti-racism and social justice, we reaffirm the same commitments and protections as the new administration takes office on January 20, 2025.

As a response to the anti-immigrant political climate fostered by the Trump Administration at that time, our union established an Immigration Task Force. This task force has been actively engaged in pro-immigrant protections on and off campus since 2017 and will continue its work.

Moreover, our union recognizes the impact the incoming administration may have on our faculty, students, staff, and their families given the harmful rhetoric espoused during the presidential election, and in subsequent statements regarding U.S. immigration policies and planned actions, by the incoming president and his administration. We want to assure everyone that we will continue to fight, protect, and advocate for the rights, dignity, and success of our immigrant students, staff, faculty, and their families. We remain dedicated to our fight to ensure our CSU campuses remain safe spaces for all.

We will continue to organize against policies and actions that separate families or undermine the rights of our undocumented students, faculty, staff, and their families. We will continue to work with our state and national leaders to find solutions that protect the rights, safety, and well-being of our communities. We will continue to build partnerships on campus, with labor allies, and our communities to defend all those impacted by impending attacks. 

During this challenging time, our union will continue to remain true to our mission and values by:

• remaining a progressive labor union committed to anti-racism and social justice transformation and redoubling our efforts to enact these values.
• defending our most vulnerable colleagues and students from all manner of attacks including racist, sexist, nationalist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic attacks.
• protecting academic freedom, including the rights of faculty, students, and staff to engage in debate and public protest.
• condemning all hate speech and hate crimes on campus and beyond.
• championing the rights of all workers to organize and defend their livelihoods and working conditions.

Further, we will continue to protect the most vulnerable members of our campus communities. 

Our union will press CSU administration and CSU Chancellor Mildred García to erect every legal bulwark possible to protect our undocumented students, undocumented CSU employees, and their families to ensure that they are not subject to intimidation, unfair investigation, or deportation. Our union will further urge the CSU to:

• guarantee student privacy by refusing to release information regarding the immigration status of our students and community members, and refusing to comply with immigration authorities regarding deportations, sweeps, or raids.
• refuse ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) physical access to all land owned or controlled by the CSU.
• offer over-break housing for students who cannot return home due to fear of inability to re-enter the U.S. 
• bring legal experts and immigration activists and advocates to campuses, so that they can provide legal counseling to undocumented students and students with undocumented family members.
• increase counseling services for mental health needs.

If DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is revoked, our union urges the CSU to:

• ensure that these students continue to receive their financial aid and fellowship support by creating special funds, separate from federal monies, and guarantee in-state tuition to students previously deemed DACA recipients.
• create special funding sources to provide undocumented students with stipends, which they can receive in exchange for performing research under the guidance of faculty members and/or other meaningful educational projects.

We invite all members of the CSU community to join us in our efforts to join us in our continued solidarity with Native people and people of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, women, and members of religious communities who may be targeted, intimidated, and/or experience acts of violence under the incoming administration.