PLEASANT HILL — Nine days ahead of a Donald Trump presidency, the Contra Costa Community College District is now a sanctuary for its students, many of whom fear deportations in what may soon become a more repressive environment for undocumented immigrants and their families.
At a meeting Wednesday night at the Diablo Valley College Performing Arts Center, the college board voted 6-0 to grant “sanctuary” status to the district and its three main campuses — DVC, Los Medanos College in Pittsburg and Contra Costa College in San Pablo — plus satellite campuses in San Ramon and Brentwood and its Martinez headquarters.
Because of the legal ambiguity of what “sanctuary” means, Wednesday’s resolution was something more general, “reaffirming support” for district students and employees. Although the board was asked to give its resolution a more forceful name, trustees wanted to get the action done Wednesday and “wordsmith later,” said board member Gary Walker-Roberts.
Whatever it’s eventually called, the district will withhold students’ personal information from federal agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and retain existing financial aid policies for undocumented students. The resolution approved Wednesday night makes several assertions, including that the district will protect students “who meet the minimum requirements for admission, regardless of immigration status.” No personal student information, the resolution says, will be released without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, or that student’s permission.
“We cannot tolerate fear — not from a foreign government, and certainly not from our own,” district board member Tim Farley said.
In 2011, President Barack Obama enacted by executive order the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, which allows for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States at age 17 or younger to get a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit, provided they meet certain guidelines — one of them that those immigrants are in school.
Trump before his election took a hard stand against allowing undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States, though he softened that stance somewhat after Nov. 8, telling Time magazine in December, “We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud.” Trump more recently has doubled down with talk of building a border wall, and making Mexico pay for it. On Wednesday, college district attorney Gabriel Sandoval told the 100 or so people in attendance that Trump could unilaterally rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, and has said he would.
The college district’s actions Wednesday reflect a trend since Trump’s election for college districts to declare themselves sanctuaries. California State University campuses, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of San Diego and several Ivy League schools, among other campuses, are or are becoming sanctuary campuses.
Some cities and public K-12 school districts have done the same. On Tuesday, the Palo Alto school board declared that the district’s campuses are sanctuaries for students who are undocumented immigrants.
During a Dec. 14 college board meeting in Martinez, more than two dozen district students and faculty implored the board, sometimes tearfully, to adopt sanctuary status. Nearly 800 people have signed a petition calling for college district leaders to declare the district a sanctuary for undocumented students and their families. A committee then formed to create the resolution approved Wednesday.
Only 11 people spoke Wednesday night, and no tears were shed.
“This place would have been overflowing with people had they not trusted us” to approve the resolution, board member John Marquez said.