ST. PAUL, Minn. — Senator Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) releases the following statement:
“I am disturbed by the University’s hosting of a recruitment webinar for Customs and Border Protection, an arm of Donald Trump’s escalating persecution of immigrants and refugees in this country. The U should not be assisting in the cruelty of this government’s federal immigration policy.
The federal government has weaponized immigration enforcement agencies on college campuses to unlawfully surveil and abduct students, tearing apart families and the Constitution all at once. Student visas have become a political tool, with thousands of existing residents being revoked, while incoming applicants face scrutiny over their personal ideology.
We have routinely witnessed DHS, ICE, and CBP flout the law and violate the constitutional rights of students across our country. It is a betrayal of the trust students place in the University of Minnesota if the institution continues to voluntarily cooperate with ICE or CBP, including in academic or career programming. To myself and many others, this is a tacit endorsement of the fear and pain these agencies are visiting upon our community.
The Trump government is investigating the University of Minnesota as an extension of Trump’s foreign policy, and his Department of Justice is suing the state for enacting the Minnesota Dream Act, which has allowed thousands of Minnesotans to graduate on their path to success in adulthood. These crackdowns go against everything American principles of academic and student freedom, and capitulating or collaborating with them goes against what we stand for as Minnesotans.”
Learn more about Sen. Fateh.
Read more news from Sen. Fateh.