President Hutchinson and Chancellor White's Messages on New Developments Regarding Immigration
To: Campus Community
From: President Gayle E. Hutchinson
California State University Chancellor Timothy White has released the following memorandum regarding federal immigration policy changes, and it’s important that I share it with our entire campus community.
The CSU system continues to carefully examine the potential impact on our campuses of the directed implementation of President Trump’s executive orders on increased border security and stricter enforcement of immigration laws. While these changes are complex and contain many unknowns, as the Chancellor states, the CSU “will continue to make every lawful effort to provide a safe and welcoming campus environment for all of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of our community.”
As part of the CSU and in line with our institutional values, we echo that sentiment. Chico State is committed to fulfilling our educational and public mission as an inclusive learning and working environment for all. Existing CSU policy has not changed, and we will make every lawful effort to support our campus community. Unless otherwise required by law, we will not enter into agreements with law enforcement agencies for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws. Our University Police Department will not honor immigration hold requests, nor will it contact, detain, question, or arrest individuals solely on the basis of being—or suspected of being—a person who lacks documentation. We advise anyone who is approached on campus by officials asking for information or documentation regarding immigration status to immediately contact the University Police Department at 530-898-5555. UPD will act as a liaison with federal, state, or local officials, and will coordinate with the CSU Office of General Counsel to provide guidance, references and resources as available.
A list of resources for students without documentation or with DACA status is on the Our Democracy website, with additional information on our Dream Student Resource page. We advise any member of our CSU community – students, faculty and staff – who is approached while on campus by federal, state or local officials asking for information or documentation regarding immigration status, to immediately contact the University Police Department at (530) 898-5555.
Please review the Chancellor’s memorandum below for further details:
To: The California State University Community
From: Timothy P. White, Chancellor
Subject: New Developments Regarding Immigration
On February 21, 2017, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued two memoranda to his department providing direction regarding implementation of President Trump’s recent executive orders on increased border security and stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
While the memoranda deal with many immigration issues, they do not affect the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy – which remains in full effect. DACA status is applicable to many, but not all of our students who lack immigration documentation.
Clearly, this emerging federal immigration policy is complex. At this time, the CSU is carefully examining these federal directives and reviewing their potential impact on CSU campuses.
We do not have information indicating that stepped up enforcement will focus on our campuses. We do advise any member of our CSU community – students, faculty and staff – who is approached while on campus by federal, state or local officials asking for information or documentation regarding immigration status, to immediately contact the University Police Department. The University Police Department will act as a liaison with the on-site officials, and will coordinate with the Office of General Counsel to provide guidance, references and resources as available.
As I have emphasized in the past, the California State University is committed to being an inclusive and welcoming institution of higher education that is enhanced by our global community. As such, we will continue to make every lawful effort to provide a safe and welcoming campus environment for all of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of our community.
As I announced previously last summer, CSU’s flexible systemwide set of policy guidelines are intended to remove the CSU from the enforcement of federal immigration laws. CSU’s policy is that, unless otherwise required by law, we will not enter into agreements with law enforcement agencies for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws. Our university police departments will not honor immigration hold requests, and our university police will not contact, detain, question, or arrest individuals solely on the basis of being – or suspected of being – a person who lacks documentation. This important CSU policy has not changed and is not impacted by Secretary Kelly’s memoranda, and these memoranda do not affect the policies or practice of the CSU and our university police departments.
We remain deeply committed to fulfilling the educational and public mission of the California State University in a safe and welcoming environment.