SGA passed a resolution during a Jan. 26 senate meeting that urges the CU system to call on Congress to enact a permanent solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students and the immigrant community on campus.
SGA has passed this resolution following a federal appeals court decision that ruled against Biden’s revisions to the DACA program in October of 2022.
According to an article from NPR, DACA was established in 2012 to postpone the deportation of people who are not U.S. citizens and whose parents brought them into the country as children. DACA program membership must be renewed every two years, and people can get work permits, study at universities and get a driver’s license through it.
DACA is likely to go to the Supreme Court for a third time. This has prompted SGA to call for the CU system to join the state of Colorado and stand in solidarity with the immigrant community. Their goal is to reach out to Congress and get them to pass legislation protecting the program and its recipients.
Senator-at-Large Amanda Ford authored the resolution and is working with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition to get more people on board.
“My plan is to use my resolution as a template to get as many resolutions passed in the U.S. as possible and then basically flood Congress with all of these various resolutions from higher education institutions across the country,” Ford said.
Director of Finance Kevin Velasco spoke about a student organization that faced controversy called UNIDOS, which was founded at UCCS to create a space that represented undocumented students.
“The organization was very close-knit between members and granted students from different immigrant statuses the opportunity to voice their passions and identities. However, due to the rise of hateful rhetoric in the past few years, members of UNIDOS grew fearful of representing themselves and expressing their identities and ideas. UNIDOS has not formally met in this decade. Their last meeting was in 2018,” Velasco said.
Velasco thinks that this resolution will help support DACA students and the immigrant community at UCCS and is a step forward in creating the space they once had. He also thinks that SGA is in a position that makes it important and possible for them to support these students.
“We as a campus and as student leaders cannot fail our students. There are numerous students on campus who are DACA recipients who are not afforded the same rights, liberties and opportunities as others and do not have a space where they can represent themselves … these students have effectively been silenced in contemporary society,” Velasco said.
In Other News:
- SGA passed SB-18: Green Action Fee Renewal Referendum. The bill puts a vote on the upcoming ballot for students to decide whether to permanently renew the Green Action Fund instead of voting for it every five years.
- SGA passed SB-19: Senate Snack Bill. This bill allocates a total of $480 to fund weekly snacks for senators and students attending Senate meetings within the next 12 weeks.
- An optional informational meeting for students interested in running for SGA will be held on Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. in UC 302. A mandatory candidate meeting will be held on Feb. 13 at the same time and in the same location.
