ith the election of Donald Trump as POTUS, many people across the country are feeling threatened and scared by the plans he proposes to implement. In particular, the massive deportation he promises of undocumented immigrants is causing great concern for university students. Trump has vowed to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities, cities who placed limits on local authorities to not cooperate with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) unless an undocumented immigrant is arrested/convicted for a serious felony such as murder or assault. Currently, undocumented students are covered by an executive order signed by President Obama called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that allowed children who were brought to the country at a young age be provided temporary relief for deportation and are given a work permit so long as they meet certain requirements such as attending school. More than 740,000 undocumented students are protected under this program. However, since it is an executive order, Trump can instantly repeal it with a stroke of a pen on day one of his Presidency.
As a result, protests have erupted on college campuses across the country to urge their university officials to name their universities as "sanctuary campuses" similar to sanctuary cities to make sure their fellow classmates are not deported. Policies that universities decide to implement can differ similar to sanctuary cities such as making sure university police does not ask a student's legal status, not cooperate with federal officials unless they possess a warrant, and refuse to share a student's information to federal authorities unless they have a warrant. So far, the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Wesleyan University have pledged to become sanctuary campuses and Temple University is going through consideration. Other universities have decided to not claim the status like Harvard, Princeton, and Drexel University; arguing that while they will work to support their undocumented students to the fullest extent of the law and DACA, there is no legal hold of claiming a university as a sanctuary campus and might do more harm than good.
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Penn President Amy Gutmann declared that Penn has always been a sancturary
The title of sanctuary city has no legal meaning and neither does a sanctuary campus. Since there is no standard definition of what a sanctuary is, many cities and campuses have different ways of implementing policies that could protect undocumented immigrants and when challenged by President Trump, it will be up to them on how to keep their promise. Cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles are gearing for a legal fight against President Trump who threatened to cut federal funding if they continue their sanctuary status. These cities have some manpower and influence to fend off any attempts by President Trump and the actual process of cutting federal aid to cities is a lot more complicated than Trump might realize. Universities, especially those who depend on federal funding, have a lot more to lose. Trump could theoretically pass a law with Congress to cut federal student loan money to sanctuary universities or federal research grants. Congress is controlled by Republicans and there have been attempts to defund sanctuary cities before such as Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania's bill that would make sanctuary cities ineligible for federal block grants for economic development (Philly received $38 million this year) and PA State Representative Matina White's bill to withhold state funding for Philadelphia.
New York could stand to lose over $10 billion in federal funds if Trump follows through with his plans
Congressional political forces are at play working to make sure sanctuary cities end but so are forces to ensure DACA recipients are protected should the program be repealed. A bipartisan bill called the Bridge Act which would act similar to DACA and has some Republican support as Senator Lindsey Graham is a co-sponsor of the bill and Speaker Paul Ryan has expressed sympathy for those covered by DACA. Past attempts to end sanctuaries have been met with resistance by local law enforcement officials and unions as well who argue that it is not their responsibility to deport people and if forced to comply with ICE, it would make their jobs harder as the local communities they police would further distrust them.
In the end, the choice of adopting a sanctuary status by a university is more of a symbolic gesture than a concrete one. The power to protect undocumnted students relies mostly on local officials and municipalities. If the state or federal government actually passes funding cuts or successfully challenges sanctuary status in courts, university commitment to their sanctuary statuses will be tested. But the status does send a strong signal that undocumented students are welcomed and would encourage them to not drop out of school and further risk deportation. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and mayors across the country are pledging for a fight to defend undocumented immigrants. Republicans in Congress also do not want to leave DACA recipients without a resource. There are a lot of uncertainties and the results of this challenge can go either way. It would take a lot of courage in the face of great political adversity for universities to honor their sanctuary statuses. Courage that they have already shown by announcing their pledge to that status. How much and how far universities would be willing to do will be up to their officials and students to decide.
