Mexican Students de Aztlán lead protest defending undocumented students’ right to education

Chicago, IL – On Wednesday, September 9, 35 students gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Quad on a rainy morning to participate in a rally called for and led by Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) demanding undocumented students’ right to education, that the university administration fight Donald Trump’s racist agenda, and a sanctuary campus.

This protest comes after recent attacks on educational access for undocumented students by the Trump administration. On July 24, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois struck down the Acevedo Act, Illinois DREAM Act, and Illinois RISE Act under the rationale that they “violated federal law when applied to non-citizens.” David W. Dugan, the federal judge presiding over these rulings, was appointed by Trump in 2020 shortly before the end of his first term as president. These acts were bravely fought for by student activists across Illinois, and their gutting has had an immediate impact on undocumented students’ right to education.

The Acevedo Act made it possible for undocumented students to have access to affordable in-state tuition to attend college in Illinois. The Illinois DREAM Act made scholarships, college savings, and prepaid tuition accessible to undocumented students who graduated from Illinois high schools, among other things. The RISE Act allowed undocumented and transgender students who were not eligible for federal student aid to apply for state financial aid like the MAP Grant through the Alternative Application. Now, many of these options are no longer available or have been severely restricted.

Lupe Lara Guzman, a member of MeSA’s Education Resistance and Activism Committee, said, “I want to invite you to imagine what undocumented and Chicane/Latine students have lived through leading up to this point here at UIC, having to watch as our university flaunts its status as a Hispanic Serving Institution, while seemingly having no care for the safety of those same students, and refusing to acknowledge the abduction of two women on our campus.”

Lara Guzman continued, “We had to commute to campus as ICE occupied our city during Operation Midway Blitz, like vultures circling. We had to sit through lectures as ICE was seen at our parents’ workplaces, at our sibling’s schools, and on train platforms that we were just on. That is no way to live, no way to learn. And now even our education is being stripped from us while our university does nothing. Shame!”

Estefani Sánchez, another member of MeSA’s Education Resistance and Activism Committee, said, “The Trump administration has ramped up attacks on higher education and is reversing laws and acts that make education affordable for students who otherwise would not have been able to go to college. These attacks are attempts to isolate and encourage students to self-deport, which we firmly oppose. All students should have the right to an affordable and accessible education regardless of one’s legal status in the United States.”

“MeSA intends to continue in the struggle for access to education for all students and continue to advocate for a sanctuary campus for everyone at UIC!” said Sánchez.

Endorsing organizations included Anakbayan at UIC, Fearless Undocumented Alliance, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Graduate Employees Organization Local 6297, Immigrant Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Lambda Theta Phi, Latine in Law, Latinos Unidos, New Students for a Democratic Society at UIC, and Sanctuary For All.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #MeSA #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #ChicanoLatino