A student group of undocumented immigrants attending Columbia University has released a list of demands on its Facebook page, calling on the university to take immediate action. The Undocumented Students Initiative at Columbia University, which was created last year, made a lengthy Facebook post outlining demands they will refuse to “amend or change.”
According to the group, Columbia has a “lack of intrinsic interest in its undocumented students.”
Chief among the demands is free health care. The students acknowledge that while the International Students & Scholars Office reimburses a portion of the fees, they want the remaining cost of their health insurance to be given back to them as well. Failure to pay the fees leaves undocumented immigrants unable to receive their transcripts until the balance is paid in full.
Oh, and they also want their $70 back.
The group is also demanding that the university refrain from designating undocumented students as international students — subject to a $70 fee each semester. Since this puts them on the Department of Homeland Security’s radar, they would rather be designated as domestic students to remain in hiding. Oh, and they also want their $70 back.
Going down the list, the demands become more outlandish. “Specialized fundraising for undocumented students. We want the university as a whole and individual schools to raise funding to specifically support undocumented students in both undergrad and grad schools with the objective of creating undocumented student-specific scholarships and grants. Need-based funding must be available for undocumented students at all Columbia University and affiliate schools.”
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What? So undocumented immigrants are demanding free education. Got it.
They also want sensitivity training for all faculty and staff on “immigration language and rhetoric,” and the group finds it “unacceptable for students to be called ‘illegal’ in their own classrooms or for professors to tell us to ‘get legal.'” They compared the necessity for sensitivity training to sexual health training because somehow they are one and the same. I won’t even pretend to understand the correlation. They also want counseling services provided to them beyond what has already been made available.
Basically, an organized group of undocumented immigrants has banded together and realized that secondary education in the United States carries a hefty price tag. Who knew? While actual citizens of the United States struggle to make ends meet while receiving an education and tackling the inevitable repayment of student loans, this lovely group of students has the audacity to publish a wish list to which they truly feel entitled.
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They want to fly under the radar of the United States, they want free health care, they want to censor ideas and words that hurt their undocumented feelings, and they want it now.
Of course, the group has censored any response in their comment section on the post, pointing out the irrelevance of non-Columbia-affiliated individuals having something to say about their demands. I guess they fail to grasp the concept of fundraising and where the money for all their expenses would be coming from.
The anonymous poster continues to liken the group to Freedom Riders, MLK, and other activists, ending their lovely tirade with, “I’d rather be a third-world, undocumented person of color than a deluded white nationalist.”
Angelina Newsom is a U.S. Army veteran and an OpsLens contributor. She served 10 years in the military, including a deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She studies criminal justice and is still active within the military community. This OpsLens article is used by permission.
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