Letter: Timmy and Hayden stand with Latinx immigrants
Vote for the incumbents
Alvin Buyinza/Collegian
February 21, 2019
We have a crisis in this nation: Latinx children on the US-Mexico border have endured tear gas; young immigrant children have been cruelly separated from their families, and some still remain separated; the fear of deportation raids permeates immigrant communities from San Francisco, California to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Our federal government’s policy of brutal mass deportation of our predominantly Latinx immigrant population is so cruel that some scholars have begun calling this injustice by its name: an ethnic cleansing. Without control of the federal government, there is little we can do to reverse this atrocity. However, student leaders on campus, led by SGA President Timmy Sullivan, are working to stem the tide.
On Monday, Feb. 4, the SGA passed motion 2019-S7 supporting the Safe Communities Act. All of this was thanks to Sullivan and his running mate, Senator Hayden Latimer-Ireland, along with Senator Cordero, who had to debate with the Senate for over 45 minutes in order to get the motion passed.
The Safe Communities Act (SD.926) prevents collaboration between local and state police forces and officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security regarding immigration enforcement, such that our police will no longer be complicit in this injustice. In refusing to take part in this, our state and local police forces can be on the right side of history. In 2018, ICE separated 2,342 children from their families. Despite the court order to reunite these families by July 6, 2018, there are, to this day, many separated families. The trauma that this has inflicted on young children, and the permanent scars it has left on their families, are damages that will forever remain, despite all efforts to remedy the situation. And there are still millions of undocumented immigrants living in, working in and contributing to the United States with no path to citizenship. There are still mass deportation raids executed by ICE officers every day for the sole purpose of terrorizing the Latinx population.
At a university that champions the value of diversity, I would think that supporting the Safe Communities Act would be common sense for our SGA. I was wrong. It appears that these statistics made the SGA, an overwhelmingly white organization, uncomfortable, and somehow still hesitant to pass this motion. Yet Sullivan and Latimer-Ireland fought as long as it took to get this important motion passed, while the other tickets who were members of the Senate abstained on this important vote. As an immigrant Latinx woman, the fact that my SGA president and his running mate would put that kind of care and dedication into supporting other immigrants and upholding Massachusetts’ reputation as a tolerant and accepting state makes me feel confident in my school’s future.
And immigrant justice isn’t all Sullivan and Latimer-Ireland stand for — they’re running for SGA president and vice president on a bold platform of debt-free college (symbolized by their support for a referendum question on legislation that would make college more affordable), a rapid transition to renewable energy, support for the RA/PM Union and dedication to racial and social justice. Sullivan and Latimer-Ireland are the fierce advocates that this campus needs. In supporting the Safe Communities Act, they supported me, and I am proud to support them in return.
Constanza Reyes Bricio
Decan York • Feb 28, 2019 at 2:31 pm
ILLEGAL!
Jonny • Feb 21, 2019 at 8:30 pm
LOL @ this author promoting the stereotype that all Hispanic immigrants are queue-jumping fencehoppers, with no interest in obeying the law. Great job liberals, your projecting is awesome
NITZAKHON • Feb 21, 2019 at 5:55 am
You know, there’s a very simple way for parents attempting to ILLEGALLY enter the US to not get separated from their children: don’t come.
As to illegal immigrants, they NEED to be caught and shipped back. White, black, and any color in between.
My wife is a LEGAL immigrant. She waited her turn, it cost us a lot of money to do it the right way. But then, she’s not a “D” voter, which is the real reason the Left wants illegals: the creation of a permanent majority voting bloc through a deliberate policy of demographic replacement.
http://redpilljew.blogspot.com/2018/09/big-conspiracy-electing-new-population.html
pete • Feb 21, 2019 at 12:17 am
If Hispanics were so oppressed and victimized by the united states and ‘white people’, then why are they doing so much better than those in Mexico or Central America>
If America is so bad then why have the migrated in enormous numbers and continue to the past few decades? These are common sense and logical questions that don’t support Bricio’s thesis.
Regarding the immigrant children and families being detained one way to look at it is the evil law enforcement, the other way is to say shame on their mothers and fathers. They basically committed child abuse by not only illegally bringing their children to america but by the process of doing so, crossing the desert, consorting with the cortel, going through a wall or tunnel or car etc. These irresponsible and I would say immoral parents need to be charged with child abuse either in Mexico or the United States. No parents should subject their children to such abuse and they logically are the minority of Mexican/central american parents who don’t subject their children to child abuse via illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration regardless is not okay and what Bricio doesn’t mention is polls that show the majority of Hispanics support legal immigration and are against illegal immigration. And why wouldn’t they be? Most Hispanics followed the law and legally immigrated, why should illegals get to cut the line and then not only face no consequence but be rewarded?
Based on the polls this shows most Hispanics support legal immigration and don’t buy the hysterical and absurd notion that ” sole purpose of terrorizing the Latinx population.”. Maybe you should be talking about the great country that allowed you to attend one of it’s colleges, that likely gave you tens of thousand of dollars in aid or support, a community that accepted, that allowed you to work at the daily collegian, etc. Would you have any of this support or level of standard of living in your home Latino country? I don’t think soo…. that’s why your parents came here.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. I.e. you can’t hate and condemn a country that gave you so much and one your parents decided to move to.