LBCC Reaches Out to DACA Students

The president of Long Beach City College has vowed to support DACA students.

DACA, short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was established by former U.S. President Barack Obama through executive order in June 2012. Undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children received protection from being deported under the program, as well as the right to work.

However, under President Donald Trump, DACA will be phased out by next March unless he or Congress does something – leaving around 800,000 DACA immigrants in limbo for the time being.

Trump reportedly reached a deal with the Democrats recently to protect the DACAs, also known as “Dreamers.”

“Long Beach City College is committed to supporting our students and maintaining a safe campus for all. We are dedicated to our mission of education and will continue to nurture an open campus and offer educational opportunities to all students, regardless of immigration status,” Long Beach City College Superintendent-President Reagan Romali said in a statement following the Department of Homeland Security’s memo to end DACA.

“As of today (Sept. 5) we have begun to schedule special workshops and we are offering crisis counseling for any student directly or indirectly affected by President Trump’s decision,” Romali wrote. “Long Beach City College will act in accordance with the mission and values of the California Community Colleges system, which include not releasing personally identifiable student information, including data related to immigration status, without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, unless authorized by the student or required by law.”

LBCC student Irene Garcia was brought to the United States at 10 days old with a border crossing permit, which expired at 10 years of age. She expressed sadness at the DACA program being rescinded.

“It’s heartbreaking because I’ve lived here all my life,” said Garcia, who writes for the Viking student newspaper. “I know no other country than the U.S.”

She said Dreamers would struggle if sent back to a country they are unfamiliar with.

“They would feel lost with no connection whatsoever.”

Garcia hopes Trump or Congress will find a solution so that Dreamers can stay legally.

It is unknown how many DACA students attend LBCC.

The college does not have an accurate way to count the number of DACA students, LBCC spokeswoman Stacey Toda said through email.

Toda provided demographic information upon request via the California Chancellor’s Office website for the annual 2016-2017 term.

It shows a total student count of 34,986.

Regarding ethnicity, 20,270 are Hispanic, or 57.94 percent.

White non-Hispanic consists of 4,742 students, or 13.55 percent.

There are 4,111 African-American students, or 11.75 percent.

Asian students are at 2,653, or 7.58 percent.

There were 1,272 Filipino students counted, or 3.64 percent.

Multi-ethnicity students are at 1,551, or 4.43 percent.

There are 248 Pacific Islander students enrolled and 73 American Indian/Alaskan native students. There are 66 identified as unknown.

Of all the students, 19,357 are female, 15,485 are male and 144 are unknown.

Regarding age, the largest number of students range between 20 to 24 years old, at 12,816.

Students under 19 years old are at 9,403.

There are 5,168 students ages 25 to 29, around 4,000 in their thirties, almost 2,000 in their forties and 1,635 over 50.

kirt@beachcomber.news