Renee Saucedo, Director of the Multicultural and Diversity Center, organized a discussion on the Eureka and Del Norte campuses about the Trump adminstration's recent decision to end DACA. I was fortunate to attend the event on the Eureka campus today where Ryan Emenaker, Professor of Political Science, provided a history of DACA and talked about the legislative possibilities for Dreamers.  Shemaya Vaughn, Faculty Counselor, also facilitated a discussion on how the decision to rescind DACA affected individuals.

On the Del Norte campus, Professor Philip Mancus spoke about the history of DACA and Manuel Saavedra talked about the emotional impact that the ending of DACA is having on the Dreamer community and the Latino community as a whole. Professor William Meriwether discussed the political ramifications of ending the DACA progam. Tory Eagles also presented on the California legislation that gives resident student status to Dreamers and the variety of California laws and programs that impact community college students who fall into the Dreamer category.

Besides my own profound dissappointment over President Trump's decision to end DACA, it was clear from the discussion today that several of our students are fearful of the future and are uncertain on whether they will continue to have a place in our college community.  I will state unambiguously that College of the Redwoods will continue to welcome all students, regardless of immigration status, to our institution.

I believe that while this is a dark time, there's hope. Professor Emenaker said it quite clearly today that there are several legislative bills in Congress that have bipartisan support to help "Dreamers."  I joined the California Community College Chancellor in sending letters to our legislators encouraging them to support the thousands of students in our college system that want nothing more than to get an education and make a positive contribution to our communities. I sent letters to Congressman Jared Huffman, Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Kamala Harris thanking them for their position opposing the Trump adminstration's decision to end DACA and encouraging them to do all they can to make sure that our "Dreamers" will always have an opportunity to attend our California colleges and universities.