Faculty, staff and student community brace for the impact of a new presidential administration set to take office in January.
By: Angel Silva, Managing Editor
Electrical engineering major Santiago Collazos remembers the dread he felt hearing about former president Donald Trump’s victory in this year’s presidential election.
“I don’t have documents, so if a person like this becomes the president, what is going to happen with people in my situation, with my mother?” Collazos recalled. “After that day, I was really scared. I couldn’t sleep.”
These fears stem from Trump’s comments throughout and after the election. On November 18, he promised to declare a national emergency to mobilize the military for deportations across the country. His presidential transition team has begin drafting executive orders on immigration, and it’s expected that a Trump presidency will lead to the end of parole policies for people from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti.
Collazos’ response is not unique according to kinesiology major Evelyn Sambrano Pinto. Sambrano Pinto is the president of the Rising Monarchs, a club on campus advocating for undocumented students and their families.
“We had some undocumented students reach out because they don’t know what’s going to happen in the next four years,” said Sambrano Pinto. “I saw some students crying because they are not only worried for their future, but also for their family’s future, especially their parents.”
Valley’s undocumented community has voiced concerns about what a second Trump administration could bring for immigrants.
“Once we received the [election] results as a nation, the fear amped up and it became more of a palatable feeling of insecurity and knowledge that the interests of the incoming administration were not in favor to support undocumented individuals,” said Javier Carbajal-Ramos, Coordinator of
Valley’s Dream Resource Center (DRC).
Housed in the Mosaic Village at the heart of campus, the DRC serves as a resource hub and community meeting place for undocumented students to receive services and counseling. A week after the election, the Rising Monarchs held a debrief meeting there to talk through what students were feeling.
“At that moment, we were like ‘ok, things can happen, bad things can happen, but we are here, and we are together on this, so let’s go through this,’” said Collazos.
According to Carbajal-Ramos, the most common fears students have are whether they, or their family members, are at risk of deportation, or if naturalization efforts are at risk.
“We have an average of about 1,000 undocumented students that we know of at Valley,” said Carbajal-Ramos. “We have anywhere from 700 to 1,000 in a given semester.”
Opening in Fall 2017, the primary mission of the DRC is to support those students in their educational journeys at Valley, while providing resources to navigate their immigrant status while doing so.
“The Dream Resource Center offers financial aid, we offer book grants, we also have counseling, personal and academic counseling,” said Sambrano Pinto, who also works as a registration assistant for the center. “We also focus on having a room especially for undocumented or immigrant students - this is their safe zone.”
The DRC also partners with outside organizations, like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), which provides legal services for students or family members. Other external partnerships include Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. On campus, the DRC also partners with other centers and programs on campus, such as Umoja Black Scholars and the Rainbow Pride Center.
“I tell individuals, I have the power of these two hands, but when I have more hands within my system, we can reach that individual that might not yet have the strength to come to me,” said Carbajal-Ramos.”
Outside of the DRC, the Rising Monarchs strive to create an environment supportive of undocumented students and allies. The club, which meets every first and last Thursday of each month in the Mosaic Village, has been operational for a year and a half, according to Collazos.
“When we first created this space, we met more people like us in our situation, and people who were not in our situation but that support this movement,” said Collazos. “When we bring new students, the first time that they come here, they are like, ‘I didn’t know that we had this space for us.’ I was like, ‘yeah, we are here for you, for everyone.’”
Campus administration has reiterated the same sentiment.
“Of course Valley College does not participate in any federal immigration enforcement. In fact, if officials came to Valley College we would contact our general counsel and have them interact with any immigration officials,” said Valley College President Barry Gribbons. “I also understand that L.A. County Sheriffs and LAPD have similar policies where they do not enforce immigration laws nor work with immigration officials.”
Despite the uncertainty around the future of immigrant communities in the United States, Sambrano Pinto is hopeful.
“We are the future of this country. What would the US say, what would America do without immigrants?” said Sambrano Pinto. “I just want to say that even if we can see the dark right now, we’re going to see a light in the future. How? We don’t know, we don’t know. But we gotta keep positive.”
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