By Two weeks after President Donald Trump pulled the plug on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Cal State Long Beach announced Friday that funding will be provided for 2017 DACA renewals.
For students completing a renewal by the Oct. 5 deadline, President Jane Close Conoley has committed $200,000 through the CSULB Student Emergency Intervention and Wellness Program to help cover the $465 renewal fee. Undocumented students can also seek assistance filling out their renewals in the Dreamer’s Success Center on campus.
“CSULB took swift action to help ensure DACA students and employees are able to pay for the steep renewal fees by the Oct. deadline,” said Terri Carbaugh, associate vice president of public affairs in an email. “Time is of the essence.”
According to Carbaugh, the Student Emergency Intervention and Wellness Program managers will review applications submitted, and students who are eligible will receive the full $495 to cover the costs of renewal.
“We kind of questioned her genuineness,” Asia Gonzalaz, political science major and member of La Raza. “She decided to [do this] after our statements and after California ULA did it. It seems like she did it more for her reputation.”
For the past few years, La Raza Student Association has been vocal through their social media outlets and rallies about their demands for a sanctuary campus, in which CSULB would have to adopt policies to protect undocumented citizens from deportation.
“ASI has made some progress,” Gonzalaz said. “They have made it so that some parts of the USU are sanctuary so ICE can’t come into that space.”
Although the CSULB University Police Department does not cooperate with ICE due to the placement of Interim General Order 55, that doesn’t mean they are not allowed on campus.
Within the California State University system in southern California, CSULB and California State University Los Angeles are leading the charge in providing internal financial support for undocumented students.
Other institutions such as the University of California system and Cal State Fullerton will be guiding undocumented students to external sources for funding such as the Mission Asset Fund.
“The MAF is one of a number of organizations that are helping individuals cover their $495 DACA Renewal Fee, and so we continue to promote this and other resources to our students,” said Henoc Preciado, coordinator for the Titan Dreamers Resource Center at Cal State Fullerton. “It’s really important for us to continue to inform our students, and so we regularly provide them with information and resources related to their status.”
While all of the resources will be helpful to students who can access them, they won’t be able to help every undocumented student. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, renewal requests will only be accepted by the Oct. 5 deadline and are exclusive to those whose DACA benefits expire between Sept. 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018.
“We are thankful for the funding, but it doesn’t cover all undocumented students,” Gonzalaz said. “Not all DACA students can reapply because of their expiration dates.”
