CSN, UNLV proclaim support
About a third of DACA participants attend college, and local institutions of higher education indicated Tuesday that they should be allowed to continue their educations.
College of Southern Nevada President Michael Richards said the school’s
“doors and arms are open to all who seek an education,” including DACA participants. “Many DACA students have held leadership positions in student government while pursuing their educational goals. They are wonderful young people,” he said in a statement Tuesday morning.
UNLV President Len Jessup released a similar statement, saying the school “will continue to do everything in our power to provide for all of our students a safe, supportive environment conducive to their success while following the law.”
But Michael Kagan, director of the school’s immigration clinic, tweeted Tuesday that UNLV doesn’t offer enough resources to undocumented students compared to other schools, including legal counseling. participants’ information, like home addresses, with immigration enforcement officials. Still, lawyers said Tuesday, there’s no comforting answer for the individuals who will lose their protection from deportation.
‘A very difficult issue’
Muth said he is hopeful that Congress will act before the program expires.
“This is a very difficult issue,” he said. “You’ve got not just the children of immigrants, but immigrants who have been here for 20 years. … I’m not in favor of deporting those people. But there’s a serious question that needs to be resolved about whether or not they should be able to jump into the front of the line with a path to citizenship.”
Terry Ochal, who works for the Clark County Republican Party, generally takes a hard line on illegal immigration. And he said he believes the U.S. should require that legal immigrants meet certain criteria, such as possessing needed skills and being educated and proficient in English.
He said he was disappointed that Trump passed the issue to Congress.
“I would’ve agreed more to just fully repeal it and have another executive order ready, to have a plan phasing it out, instead of putting it on Congress,” Ochal said.
Ochal said he would have preferred that DACA never happened but, like Muth, he said he feels the U.S. now bears some obligation to the immigrants who embraced it.
“We’ve already kind of perpetuated the situation, and now we have to figure out how we would go about restoring the situation.”
Contact Jessie Bekker at jbekker@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @jessiebekks on Twitter. Review-journal staff writer Colton Lochhead contributed to this report.