Students Rage for ‘Sanctuary’ Campuses

Students across the country are marching and protesting in favor of “sanctuary campuses.”

Terrified of the caricature of Donald Trump that lives only in their minds and the media, these college kids are calling for their universities and colleges be turned into housing centers for illegal aliens seeking to avoid deportation.

“At the end of the day an immigration official can always get a warrant if necessary”

On Tuesday, students at a number of schools — including Yale, Stanford, Oberlin, and Brown — sent similar letters or petitions to their respective administrations, demanding that their alma maters harbor and protect criminals.

“In the wake of the recent Presidential election, we — the undersigned students, faculty, and workers — urge you to take immediate steps to make Yale University a sanctuary campus for students, staff, and their family members who face deportation under President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s proposed policies,” read the Yale students’ letter.

Over 500 Stanford students and staff walked out on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they were joined by hundreds of other students across the country at colleges such as Yale, NYU, Wesleyan, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Harvard, and others.

[lz_ndn video= 31637691]

“Undocumented migrants are a population directly at risk as a result of one of Trump’s campaign promises,” wrote students at New York City’s New School. “This is not an abstract issue: His promise to increase deportations and end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program puts some of our students, staff members, and their family members at risk.”

Apparently no one has bothered to teach these students basic facts about criminal justice. Heavens forbid that laws put those who break them at risk of legal consequences.

These students are demanding nothing less than that their universities violate federal law. A letter addressed to IUPUI Chancellor Nasser Paydar requested that the university “actively refuse to comply with immigration authorities regarding deportations or raids in the campus.”

No matter how hard these students scream and cry and kick their feet, however, it is unlikely that they will be able to force their colleges and universities to comply with their demands.

“I think it’s a symbolic effort that will make undocumented students feel more secure on campuses that adopt this,” Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell University Law School, told Inside Higher Ed. “I’m not sure, however, that such sanctuary resolutions carry much legal weight,” he added.

“While these sanctuary ordinances and resolutions can make administrators aware of how undocumented students are feeling and make sure that they think carefully about cooperating with immigration officials, at the end of the day, an immigration official can always get a warrant if necessary,” he said.

[lz_related_box id=”244416″]

If university administrators ever do become tempted to make a concerted effort to thwart federal law enforcement officers from carrying out their duties, the Trump White House could deal with those lawless institutions in much the same way it plans to deal with mayors who maintain “sanctuary city” policies — cut off their funding.

The nation’s leading universities — including ostensibly private ones — are arguably even more reliant on federal funding than sanctuary cities like New York or Los Angeles. Universities receive millions of dollars from the federal government for research and development — in 2011, Stanford received over $600 million in grants from federal government.

Any university which takes steps to shield illegal aliens from facing justice should see their federal funding cut immediately.