Santa Fe Community College Becomes 'Sanctuary Campus'

The governing board for Santa Fe Community College approved a resolution last week designating the institution a “sanctuary campus” for undocumented immigrant students. Since the election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency, a growing student- and faculty-led movement has called on colleges across the country to limit their cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement officials and declare their campuses sanctuaries, with much of the activity in this regard happening at four-year, as opposed to two-year, colleges.

The resolution approved four to zero by the Santa Fe Community College governing board calls on the institution to “protect student privacy and insure confidentiality by prohibiting the release of information about students’ immigration status to law enforcement agencies and federal agencies,” “instruct SFCC security to refrain from collaborating with or volunteering information to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] for the purposes of immigration enforcement,” and “refuse access to campus and other SFCC-controlled property to federal immigration officials for the purposes of immigration enforcement, except in exigent circumstances or upon issuance and receipt of a warrant,” among other steps. The full resolution is viewable here.