There hadn’t been any raids or inquiries from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement at College of the Desert as of mid-April—but the community college is not leaving this potentially fraught situation to chance.
More than 70% of COD’s students are Hispanic or Spanish-speaking, many of whom are undocumented or in mixed-status families.
The COD Board of Trustees on March 21 took pre-emptive action to establish campus-wide protocols for interacting with ICE agents. It beefed up outreach to students and their families, and implemented a comprehensive training program for faculty and staff, including formalized procedures to make sure the entire campus community knows what to do to protect students if ICE does show up.
The actions are in response to Trump administration reforms, including the removal of restrictions on so-called “sensitive” locations—places that for years were considered safe spaces, including schools, courthouses, churches and hospitals.
COD public information officer Nicholas Robles said the goal is to give the campus specific strategies for responding to immigration-enforcement requests, while ensuring students have privacy and a protected learning environment.
“What we’re trying to do is clarify, not only for the students and the community, but really our faculty and our administration: What are the processes? What are we doing to support our students?” Robles said. “We did see a slight enrollment drop at the beginning of the semester (among) our English (as a) second language students.”
The college will direct all law-enforcement inquiries to the COD Public Safety Department and will require warrants to release any student information. The school also prohibits inquiries about immigration status during admissions and enrollment periods.
The school has also increased support services at the campus Dreamer Resource Center. The center is a hub for services to undocumented students and their families. Students receive support for their academic goals, and the center partners with the TODEC Legal Center to provide free immigration legal advice. TODEC recently distributed more than 40,000 “Know Your Rights” cards to schools in the region, including primary and middle schools.
“One of the big things we know, just based off our student data, is we do have a large number of undocumented students, but then we also have a number of students who do have status here … (whose) parents may not have status,” Robles said. “Or one parent does, but not the other parent. That’s what we call our mixed-status families, and we definitely have a large population of mixed-status families.”
These directives couldn’t come soon enough, said one local educator, who asked not to be named out of concern of retribution. They believe it is not just undocumented students who may be targeted.
COD has a small enrollment of Native American students, through a partnership with the California Indian Nations College. The educator told the Independent that students may be unaware of recent immigration sweeps involving Indigenous people in other regions. News outlets have reported incidents of Navajo tribe members in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah being targeted by ICE.
Fear and misinformation spread around the campus in early February, when inaccurate posts claimed smog checkpoints were ICE checkpoints.
“We did hear that there were some young men here, Native young men, who were being handcuffed and sat down on the street and really harassed when it came to that,” the educator said. “That’s when I sent out an announcement saying, ‘Be careful, and make sure you have your tribal ID with you.’ I think a lot of Native Americans feel like, ‘I’m Native American, so they’re not going to come and get me.’”
Robles said the COD administration moved quickly to provide guidance, because ICE raids were being reported in Riverside County and other parts of the state. Fear and misinformation spread around the campus in early February, when inaccurate posts claimed smog checkpoints were ICE checkpoints.
“In the Coachella Valley, we have very active Facebook groups, and there was a lot of misinformation on social media,” Robles said. “There’s a department that regulates smog checkpoints, but on social media, it was like, ‘Oh, these are ICE checkpoints.’ The minute something happens, it spreads like wildfire.
“Historically, (ICE agents) haven’t gone into churches and schools. But as we’ve seen, there’s a lot of tumultuousness within the federal government right now. (Our position) is, if they do come on our campus, this is what we’re going to be doing, and these are our protocols. We are trying to be preemptive, and really define what are closed spaces and what are open spaces, in case that did happen.”
Val Martinez Garcia, COD’s acting president, reiterated the college’s mission to protect and support undocumented students.
“Every student deserves access to education without fear,” Garcia said in a statement. “These comprehensive policies ensure our undocumented students can focus on their academic goals with confidence that their privacy and educational rights are protected. Our mission has always been to serve all students in our community. These policies reaffirm that commitment with concrete action.”
Bottom line! Like all countries, the United States has laws regarding immigration. Many of those mentioned in this posting attending college are probably good citizens but in many cases not US citizens. Unfotunately, there is also a group of bad apples throughout America and that makes it a real challenge when it comes to law enforcement. The past 4 years saw government officials bypassing federal law and now it has been made very difficult for many who want only to live a good and productive life in America. It is going to be difficult for the next few years but those who decide to fight current laws are only going to make it difficult for the many with good intentions. College of The Desert should do their best through good teaching to assist those students with the proper procedures required to live legally in the United States and help them reach those goals. Fighting current laws will not solve the problem. I pray daily for a positive outcome.