The University of California announced Wednesday that it will “vigorously protect the privacy and civil rights” of undocumented members of the UC community and will direct its police departments “not to undertake joint efforts with any government agencies to enforce federal immigration law.”
The announcement of its “Statement of Principles in Support of Undocumented Members of the UC Community” came in response to remarks as well as cabinet appointments and nominations made by President-elect Donald Trump.
“While we still do not know what policies and practices the incoming federal administration may adopt, given the many public pronouncements made during the presidential campaign and its aftermath, we felt it necessary to reaffirm that UC will act upon its deeply held conviction that all members of our community have the right to work, study, and live safely and without fear at all UC locations,” UC President Janet Napolitano said.
Today, the UC system has grown to 10 campuses, including UCSD. According to its website, the UC system includes more than 238,000 students and more than 190,000 faculty and staff.
Wednesday’s announcement coincides with a New York Times op-ed penned by Napolitano, who served as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama. Her piece defends the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) directive, which protects Dreamers from deportation.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to end DACA, and, since his election win, he has nominated immigration hardliner Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for attorney general.
“While much has been made about our incoming president possibly eliminating DACA with his own swift pen stroke, there has been scant attention paid to the careful, rational and lawful reasons for creating the program, which, especially now that its future is in doubt, merit a closer look,” Napolitano wrote.
The Statement of Principles in Support of Undocumented Members of the UC Community came after Napolitano met earlier Wednesday with UC staff coordinators who support Dreamers at all UC campuses. Napolitano also reviewed the recommendations of a UC task force that she established to study ways to protect undocumented students and other undocumented members of the UC community.
The principles are to be implemented through policies and procedures at all UC campuses and medical facilities, according to a UC statement, and include the following:
- The University of California will continue to admit students consistent with its nondiscrimination policies so that undocumented students will be considered for admission under the same criteria as U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
- No confidential student records will be released without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, unless authorized by the student or required by law.
- No UC campus police department will undertake joint efforts with local, state or federal law enforcement agencies to investigate, detain or arrest individuals for violation of federal immigration law.
- Campus police officers will not contact, detain, question or arrest any individual solely on the basis of (suspected) undocumented immigration status.
- The University of California will not cooperate with any federal effort to create a registry of individuals based on any protected characteristics such as religion, national origin, race or sexual orientation.
- UC medical centers will treat all patients without regard to race, religion, national origin, citizenship or other protected characteristics and will vigorously enforce nondiscrimination and privacy laws and policies.
