Letter to Trump

Leaders of California’s three systems of public higher education sent a joint letter* to President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday urging him to allow students who are in the country illegally to continue their educations without fear of deportation.

“These sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants are as American as any other child across the nation” in all but the letter of the law, do not pose a safety threat and have contributed to their communities, wrote University of California President Janet Napolitano, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White and Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor-designate of California Community Colleges.  

“They represent some of the best our nation has to offer,” the letter said. “They should be able to pursue their dream of higher education without fear of being arrested, deported, or rounded up just for trying to learn…. we implore you to let them know they are valued members of our communities and that they will be allowed to continue to pursue the American dream.”

Trump said during his campaign that he would reverse an Obama administration program that deferred deportation proceedings against certain young people who were brought to the country illegally as minors but stayed in school and out of trouble. That program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, has approved nearly 1.3 million cases nationally, including 367,000 in California, the most of any state…

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-daca-uc-csu-ccc-20161128-story.html

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*The link to the letter in the LA Times' story didn't work (at the time of this posting).