A routine visit to Cal State Monterey Bay by a representative from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security set off a wave of activity on campus and social media last Monday.
A campus-wide email was sent at 10:47 a.m. alerting students of the presence of the DHS to conduct a routine audit of the school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. Only a few hours later another email was sent confirming the representative (singular) was no longer on campus and that no immigration enforcement action had been taken.
Still, student reactions demonstrated the fear many of them have of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
“The student reaction is really based on what’s going on in the world,” said AS Vice President of Internal Affairs Thorn Perez, “I feel if this happened five years ago, when ICE wasn’t one of the affectors of people’s day to day life, it wouldn’t have as much of a reaction considering this was an annual thing that they do.”
Despite the fact the email announced that the visit was routine, many students still chose to play it safe. Undocu-Success says an event they planned for that day had much lower attendance than they expected. “We were expecting that because that type of email causes a lot of concern in students, especially undocumented students,” said student coordinator Lara Arias, “I think that just showed how scared CSUMB students were of something happening.”
Some students raised concerns about the perceived delay between the communication and when the representative would be on campus, roughly a 15- minute gap. According to university Public Information Officer Walter Ryce this was not a surprise visit, rather the short gap in communication was so they could verify the presence of the representative on campus before they made any announcements.
Yvonne Gordon, interim associate vice president for public safety and chief of police, said visits are usually 30-45 minutes long and the meeting had been expected to start at 10:30 a.m. Gordon also noted that under Senate Bill 98 the school is required to send notice of visits to the campus community.
SB Bill 98, also known as the Sending Alerts to Families in Education Act, was signed in September and requires state public schools – including public universities – to immediately notify students, parents and staff of immigration enforcement on campus.
According to the ICE website, “The Student and Exchange Visitor Program collects, maintains, analyzes and provides information so only legitimate foreign students or exchange visitors gain entry to the United States.” These compliance visits may occur as part of a 6 to 12-month cycle, or “off-cycle” which can occur at any time.