DACA Program in Jeopardy After Trump Election - Essay Sample

Introduction

The election of Donald Trump as the President of States scared many citizens across the country, including undocumented students. During the presidential campaigns, Donald Trump had suggested that about four million people who were illegally in the United States needed to be deported. He had gone ahead to promise that if elected, he would overturn the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that had been set up during President Obama's regime. The DACA program protected about seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand young immigrants that came to the United States as minors.

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If the President puts those policies into action, then thousands of undocumented college students would be affected. In response, many students across the country have suggested that their campuses be converted into "sanctuary campuses" to defend undocumented students from being deported (Grose, 2019). The idea of a sanctuary campus is viewed from two perspectives. In the first instance, the idea of a sanctuary campus seeks to protect all undocumented students from federal deportation. The second group believes that sanctuary campuses offer room for students to learn without being racially abused. The word 'sanctuary' is very wide; thus, it has been used by proponents of the idea as a badge of honor to social justice. In essence, a sanctuary campus is an institution of higher learning that has set up policies that protect undocumented students from being deported.

The term originated from sanctuary cities such as Los Angeles, where the local authorities have promised to protect the undocumented population. A college is regarded as a sanctuary when it refuses to collaborate with immigration officials to provide educational and legal resources for undocumented students. The sanctuary movement was set up immediately after the election of Donald Trump by college students who were protesting for their schools to be converted into sanctuary campuses.

The Sanctuary campus movement achieved activism, advocacy, and education within the period it was carried out. The movement enhanced awareness on the need for all to access quality education regardless of their status in society (Grose, 2019). The fact that the young citizens spearheaded it indicates that they understand the need for standing up to protect others whenever injustice is propagated against them. The sanctuary movement spread across the country, specifically within institutions of higher learning that indicated that by enacting the threat of deportation on undocumented students, the President was affecting the whole generation.

The demonstrations spread very fast until the administration noticed that they were facing a whole generation and not just a selected minority group. The student activists in the country signed petitions and send letters across all campus administrations, informing them of the need for these institutions to adopt friendly policies against undocumented students (Grose, 2019). The President still issues threats and has vowed to reduce funding for sanctuary cities, but the message is home for all those immigrants who arrived as children. The public believes that they should not be punished for mistakes; they did not play a role in committing because, at their age, they had no say in the decisions of their parents or the caregivers.

The primary mission of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers is to ensure that all people have access to basic human needs, particularly the empowerment of those who are living in poverty and vulnerable (Reamer, 2018). The sanctuary campus movement met the requirement of the code of ethics because; it was performed in support of the vulnerable group of undocumented students living in the United States.

The sanctuary movement sought to end discrimination against students of color who were brought to the United States as children because they too had a right to quality education that would, in turn, change their social wellbeing (Reamer, 2018). The movement was able to achieve social justice for the students and uphold their dignity as human beings because an act of deportation would have left them devastated.

The current developments in social advocacy require that social workers be informed and familiar with empowerment theories because to avoid trouble with both the local and the federal government (Reamer, 2018). In line with demanding the rights of the minority and vulnerable groups in the society, there is a need to adhere to the set rules and regulations, such as informing them of planned demonstrations to be accorded protection.

The sanctuary movement spread through advocacy by word of mouth and the internet. It was able to spread very fast through social media because the players were young people in colleges who are considered technology savvy. The use of hashtags and sharing videos in social media has been the best way to inform the society at large on the injustices facing a given minority group and how to avoid it (Grose, 2019). In most cases, social unrest has been applied to stop authorities from carrying out planned injustices, and a good example is the sanctuary campus movement that was able to stop the President from deporting the undocumented students.

References

Grose, C. (2019). Dealing with Differences. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press. Retrieved 27 January 2020, from https://waytolead.org/dealing-with-differences/

Reamer, F. (2018). Ethical standards in social work: a review of the NASW code of ethics. Washington, DC: NASW Press. Retrieved 27 January 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276455251_Ethical_Standards_in_the_NASW_Code_of_Ethics_The_Explicit_Legal_Model_and_Beyond