It is essential that students participate in protecting their immigrant classmates against the threatening actions of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It is the duty of everyone, even college students, to stand up to the unjust conditions that immigrants are facing in detention centers that lack adequate food, water and medical care.
In 2010, Kennesaw State campus police arrested a Mexican student named Jessica Colotl for impeding traffic. Upon her arrest, it was discovered that she was in the U.S. illegally.
Colotl was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and subsequently kept in an Alabama detention center.
The story of Colotl did not end there, as the New York Times explains. Her sorority sisters at Lambda Theta Alpha rallied and marched in support of her, holding signs saying “Jessica has a dream” and “I march for Jessica.”
This protest, combined with the efforts of local immigration advocacy groups and former KSU President Daniel Papp made it so that Colotl was released and granted deportation deferment for a year, allowing her to continue to study at KSU.
Just like protesters are taking action into their hands today in 2019, and just like Colotl’s sorority sisters took action in 2010 right here on campus, KSU students need to voice their support and make one thing clear:
All immigrants are welcome here, regardless of legal status.
In 2017, President Donald Trump revoked Colotl’s DREAM Act status, the program that grants young immigrants brought into the country illegally temporary protection from deportation and permission to legally work.
More than 100 protesters from the Atlanta area came out in 2017 in support of Colotl, according to the Georgia American Civil Liberties Union, fighting for her to keep her status as a Dreamer.
The crisis over immigration has dominated the news cycle lately, telling stories like that of 680 undocumented immigrants being arrested in Mississippi and presidential hopeful Joe Biden being confronted over former President Barack Obama’s legacy of deporting more immigrants than any other U.S. president.
Endless demonstrations have taken place around the country to ensure that undocumented immigrants have access to basic human rights.
A Jewish activist group called “Never Again” has been holding demonstrations at ICE offices around the country to protest the unjust treatment of undocumented immigrants recently.
KSU students cannot sit idly by while their classmates are taken away for no other crime than the piece of land that they were born on. It is the duty of everyone to stand up to the unjust conditions that immigrants face.
A rally in support of undocumented immigrants or even simply signs around campus showing support with immigrant communities could be a good start in informing the KSU community of the issue.
One does not need to be an immigrant to become impassioned and angry about the immigration crisis. One must look at the laws of the land and be unafraid to point out the unfairness of it, the cruelty of detaining people because of their nationality and treating them like they are not human beings worthy of protection.
Legality and enforcement of a law does not necessarily constitute morality.
This is an issue that affects the KSU community, as it was the case of Colotl that was thrown into the national spotlight. Colotl was a political science major and a KSU student.
If we as KSU students truly want to call ourselves a community and embrace the different cultures around us, we all must speak out in support of our fellow KSU students, faculty and staff that face discrimination because of immigrant status. We must do what is moral and fight for the rights of all immigrants.
KSU students must fight for the rights of immigrants — not because laws harmful to immigrants could come back to harm us, but because we simply must care for other human beings.
