Received this e-mail today from Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D. CA) gubernatorial campaign:
Last week, I laid out a plan to protect California students from President-elect Trump's horrifying pledge to deport two to three million people from our country. I wrote to all UC, CSU and California Community Colleges and called on them to declare and enforce their statuses as "Sanctuary Campuses." I want to make sure I explain why this is so important and what exactly it means.
I have personally heard from and met with undocumented and minority students in the California school system who, in the aftermath of Trump's election, are more scared than ever for themselves and their families. I spoke with one student who couldn't bring himself to travel with his soccer team for fear of being deported and another who worried what would happen to her little brother if her parents were sent away. The anxiety these young people are living with is palpable and horrifyingly widespread.
And here's why: If Trump's administration actually fulfills its promise to deport two to three million people, they're not just going after criminals. They will be going after families, parents whose children have lived here their whole lives and even our own students.
The University of California has collected personal data from thousands of students on the condition that we would safeguard them and their privacy from the federal government – and you can envision a lot of scenarios in which the Trump administration demands to use that data as part of a mass deportation effort.
So we can either be defensive and hope Trump didn't really mean all those things he's said – that he's not serious when he talks about a plan for mass deportation, that he would never raid our college and university campuses. Or we could be proactive and forceful in protecting California's students.
I refuse to sit back and hope for the best. We have both a moral and economic imperative to protect our students - the future teachers, innovators and community leaders of California. That's why I wrote to UC, CSU and California Community College leaders asking them to take immediate action to safeguard our students from President-elect Trump's mass deportation plan.
I made clear to them and will lay out for you here what exactly that entails: We need our schools to move quickly toward declaring their status as "Sanctuary Campuses," protect student data from abuse by the federal government and codify policies on working with immigration enforcement.
I really hope you'll take a couple minutes to read the full letter and, if you're with me, sign your name to stand with our students.
Protecting our students is one of the most important responsibilities we have. Thank you for stepping up with me.
Gavin
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