A resolution was submitted by the University Senate last February 6 calling on the administration of Stony Brook University to adopt several policies to protect undocumented immigrants in the campus. The said resolution was passed as a response to President Donald Trump's executive order released January 27 that bans immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, according to The Statesman.
The travel ban triggered chaos and protests across the country because there are numerous travelers from the said nations were prevented in their plane boarding or were detained as soon they arrived at the airport.
Edward Feldman, the University Senate president and an associate professor of clinical family medicine at the School of Medicine said that the University Senate felt the need to make a statement in order to provide protection to the students of Stony Brook, as well as its faculty, and professional who were affected by the executive order on immigration ban.
The resolution aims to prevent the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officials from implementing any immigration activity or action on campuses unless they are able to show a warrant. It also urges administration that instead of making arrests, campus police officers should be issuing tickets.
Stony Brook is not the only institution who will be stepping up when it comes to the protection of undocumented immigrants, because a number of school districts in California are doing a similar action for these immigrants, according to EdSource.
The California Department of Education, nine districts have already passed resolution declaring their commitment to protect immigrant students. Samuel Molina, state director of Mi Familia Vota and a Fresno resident said that some students are already afraid to attend school because of their fear of being deported, and this is where schools should be supportive of the students and let them feel that they are not going to work as arms of federal immigration enforcement.
