University of California (UC) president Janet Napolitano says the school will do whatever it can within the law to protect illegal immigrant students from being deported.
Napolitano’s intent was outlined in a set of principles released by the school Wednesday evening, describing how campus police and officials would address illegal immigrants on campus. Some of the principles include:
- No confidential student records will be released without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, unless authorized by the student or required by law.
- No UC campus police department will undertake joint efforts with local, state or federal law enforcement agencies to investigate, detain or arrest individuals for violation of federal immigration law.
- Campus police officers will not contact, detain, question or arrest any individual solely on the basis of (suspected) undocumented immigration status.
The university itself described the principles as “vigorously protect[ing] the privacy and civil rights of the undocumented members of the UC community.”
“While we still do not know what policies and practices the incoming federal administration may adopt, given the many public pronouncements made during the presidential campaign and its aftermath, we felt it necessary to reaffirm that UC will act upon its deeply held conviction that all members of our community have the right to work, study, and live safely and without fear at all UC locations,” Napolitano said in a statement accompanying the principles.
The principles are very similar to those previously declared at California State University and other schools, some of which have overtly declared themselves “sanctuary campuses” for illegal immigrants.
An estimated 2,500 illegal immigrants are enrolled across the ten campuses of the UC system.
Ironically, Napolitano herself previously served as Secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama, and was responsible for deporting illegal immigrants. That role made her the subject of protests when she was hired as UC president, with student agitators being arrested for disrupting the board of regents meeting that approved her hiring.
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