With an estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. a 2014 Pew Research study found that illegal immigration had dropped by nearly one million between 2007-2014 and has, since then, been on a steady decline.
Often, during his debates, President Trump promised to do away with “bad hombres” and build a “great, great wall” across the U.S. – Mexico border. Since taking office, he has signed multiple executive orders including Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvement.
As the U.S. is often called a “nation of immigrants,” it is very easy to find people who may be affected by the president’s actions. On campus, many students have shared their worries over what they fear may happen to their friends or family.
Ana Sandoval, a liberal studies freshman who has parents from Jalisco, Mexico, expressed her fear over President Trump’s building of the wall.
“My parents are worried and undocumented,” she said. “They’re thinking, is he going to go through everyone’s records and send them back to where they belong?”
Sandoval, whose family would directly affected by a mass deportation, said, “My uncle has a visa and he usually makes monthly visits to our family in Mexico. It’s going to affect them because our family in Mexico kind of needs our help from here.”
Many students like Sandoval may now face a possible question of what they would do if a mass deportation were to take place.Whether her parents have a plan as of now, Sandoval said, “My parents are planning, and they kind of plan of going back there and leaving me and my siblings here, ‘cause we’re in school. We’re from here so we can stay and work.”
Along with President Trump’s vow for increased border security, he has also called for an executive action in order to ban people from entering the U.S from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The executive order titled “Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorists Entry Into The United States” prohibits visa holders from the seven countries from entering the U.S. In some cases, those holders were barred from entering the U.S. and sent back to the country they had arrived from. As of Friday night though, U.S. Federal Judge James Robart issued a nationwide temporary halt to the immigration order, according to CNN.
While this halt may give some individuals a sigh of relief, it didn’t come soon enough as some students on campus were already worried of what to do of the situation.
A finance major from Oman, who spoke under the condition of anonymity for self-protection because of their Muslim identity, stated their opinion on the ban by saying, “In each country there are the good ones and the bad ones and we can’t generalize them all.”
And while the student stated that their family had not been affected directly by the ban in any way, they were not completely unfamiliar to the situation as some of their friends or acquaintances had definitely been impacted.
“My friend, my classmate that is from Libya that is from the seven countries that is banned,” the student said. “He didn’t go back to visit his family for two years. He was planning to visit them for this summer for one month and come back. He has two choices, either he goes back and he won’t come back in, or stay here for two years without seeing his family.”
While Judge James Robart issued the temporary halt, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was quick to issue a statement saying, “At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order.”
For those like the student mentioned above, who have friends who are now in pivotal positions, the question of what their own family is doing or would do if more countries were barred from entering the U.S.
“My dad told me to take as much subjects as you can and then come back because it’s being unsecure for Muslims and I am Muslim,” the student said.
Since President Trump’s executive orders on immigration started, the California State University issued a statement saying, “We oppose the divisiveness of the recent executive order, and we stand with the state and national officials in requesting that the President reconsider this Policy.”