In the wake of the first lawsuits filed against the Arizona immigration law, the University of Arizona’s President Robert E. Shelton released a letter Thursday describing the effects the law has already had on the school’s admissions.
In that letter, Shelton says administrators are worried about the international community on the school system’s campuses. He goes on to say the college will do whatever they need to do to keep the “health and safety” of those international students a top priority, and will put procedures in place to allow them the “free movement” they are accustomed to on the college’s campuses. Perhaps most significantly, however, Shelton describes how the law has already hurt the college on the admissions level:
“We have already begun to feel an impact from SB1070. The families of a number of out-of-state students (to date all of them honors students) have told us that they are changing their plans and will be sending their children to universities in other states. This should sadden anyone who cares about attracting the best and brightest students to Arizona."
The new law requires all immigrants in the state to have their alien registration documents or other documents proving citizenship available at all times, and allows police to stop and question anyone in the state suspected of being in the United States illegally. The law would also crack down on illegal day laborers looking for work and those who hire them. There has been a national uproar since the law was passed, with many concerned that the law encourages racial profiling against Latinos.
College students have been particularly vocal. A story on CNN.com today describes the mood on the University of Arizona’s Tucson campus. One student there, Francisco Baires, has been circulating a petition summing up students’ concerns with the new law. He and others plan to present that petition to the school’s president next week, and will ask him to sign it himself. Another student, Jessica Mejia, organized Immigration Awareness Week on the campus, which included a series of programs and informational sessions on the intricacies of the law and acted as a place where students could share their personal immigration stories.
Students outside of Arizona have protested the measure as well. Throughout the Denver area today, hundreds of both high school and college students will stage a walk-out in protest. Administrators at the schools and police departments are all in on the walk-out. Is anything happening at your high school or college campus related to Arizona’s immigration law? What do you think about the immigration law, and what has the mood been like at your school since it was passed?