Their silence speaks volumes
As Cal State L.A. celebrates graduates, a group rallies support for a student held on immigration charges.
They marched in silence down the main walkway of the Cal State L.A. campus, amid the excitement of commencement day, holding up cardboard cutouts depicting a woman in a cap and gown with her fist raised.
The signs called for the release of fellow student Claudia Rueda, 22, who was detained Thursday by Border Patrol agents.
Rueda’s detention sparked claims that she had been targeted in retaliation for protesting the arrest of her mother, who was swept up by federal agents during a massive cocaine bust last month. Rueda was moving her family’s car outside her aunt’s Boyle Heights home in the early morning hours when she was detained and taken to a federal facility near San Diego.
On Saturday, as families filed into the stadium before the start of commencement, about a dozen of Rueda’s supporters — including other students, activists and university professors — silently made their way through the campus. Their cardboard signs explained her story.
Professor Alejandra Marchevsky, who taught a gender, sexuality and migration class that Rueda attended last semester, described her as a motivated, organized and exceptional student.
“To see her education interrupted in this way, it’s just tragic,” Marchevsky said.
Most people paused to read the signs. Many looked confused. A couple of advocates passed out fliers.
Serafin Serrano encountered the protest on his way to the graduation.
Rueda had participated in his youth leadership program through Volunteers of America when she was a high school senior, he said. She stood out as a natural leader, whose passion was immigration activism.
“It’s not a shock that you have other young people out here in the sun with signs supporting her,” Serrano said. “She embodies community.”
Activists and friends said Rueda was targeted because of protests she led in recent weeks over the detention of her mother, Teresa VidalJaime, 54, who was picked up during a drug raid that targeted other members of her family. Authorities determined that Vidal-Jaime was not involved in the alleged trafficking, and she was released on bail.
In a statement Friday, Border Patrol said Rueda was one of seven people taken into custody as part of an investigation into “a crossborder narcotics smuggling operation.” But all were arrested on suspicion of immigration violations, not drug offenses, according to the statement.
Marchevsky said that after President Trump announced his executive orders on immigration, Rueda stayed after class to discuss the policy changes.
When her mother was detained, Rueda stopped attending classes and began staying at her aunt’s house.
Rosemary, a fellow student and friend of Rueda’s who asked that her last name not be used for fear of retaliation, helped organize the silent march Saturday. She said students have been pushing university officials to designate the campus as a sanctuary for those who are in the country illegally. Though the university has a Dreamers Resource Center for such students, Rosemary said, it lacks sufficient funding and staff.
Cal State L.A. spokesman Robert Lopez said the university has the only endowed dreamers center in the California State University system. He said senior administrators, including President William Covino, have been communicating with members of Congress and several government agencies seeking assistance for Rueda.
Friends said Rueda was focusing on Latin American studies at Cal State L.A. and that she has lived in the U.S. most of her life.