UC Berkeley recently announced that it will send out email notifications when U.S. immigration enforcement activity is confirmed on campus. This practice is in compliance with California’s Sending Alerts to Families in Education Act, which requires the UC system to notify students when immigration enforcement activity is present on campus. The bill was passed last September. 

The California law responds to the fears of students, including U.S. citizens, lawful immigrants and nonimmigrants (student visa holders), and undocumented persons of immigration enforcement on campuses. As the National Law Review reported, “[o]n January 21, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS') rescinded Biden-era guidance designating colleges and universities as `protected areas’ for purposes of immigration enforcement and have conducted at least one arrest on university property.” Such fear does not contribute to a positive learning environment. Similar worries led former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as President of the University of California to create the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center. Center attorneys provide immigration law advice to students on all the UC campuses. The UC Center, which is now funded by the Legislature, has been replicated on a number of other California campuses. The University has released a FAQ about immigration enforcement activities on campus.

All this may be discounted as the work of a so-called sanctuary state. However, the various policies humanely respond to student concerns in a state with many Latina/o, Asian, and international students who — even if in the United States lawfully — fear the word ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).