Our beloved CSUSM community comprises individuals of diverse backgrounds, yet we make one student body.  The last several weeks have held a commotion of political rhetoric, changes and uncertainty for many.  With the rescinding of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), many students within our campus are personally affected by such action, and many individuals have friends and/or family who are impacted as well.  Let’s take a moment to hear what individuals from our campus community have to say.

What are your

 thoughts on DACA and the situation currently surrounding it?

Sara Freitag

Zora Sahial

“The first thing that came to mind was, ‘oh my gosh, my friends…what’s gonna happen to them?’  It’s not their fault that their country or the people in their country are cruel to them.  It’s not their fault.  All they want to do is live, and they came here…I was so disappointed and sad.  I was like, ‘we have to actually do something about these people.’ Every time I get on this campus, I’m just like, ‘Thank God,’ there’s so much diversity.  They’re so accepting.”

McKenzie Blake

“I don’t necessarily know anyone who’s affected by it, but I just think it’s really messed up what happened with DACA, because the kids really had no choice in coming here illegally.  It was their parents, and I don’t think that they should be punished for something that they weren’t really aware of.  And I think that everybody deserves the right to have an education.”

Rolando Rojas

“It’s a very difficult topic, and I think there’s lots of information to be taken from both sides. Coming from a Hispanic background… [I am] a very strong supporter of DACA and believe that everybody is entitled to an equal education and an equal opportunity…but it’s a long process and I think that our government should work together a little bit harder to find a solution that would work for both sides of the argument.

Sam Hartnett

“The idea that we’re sending people back to countries that they aren’t even accustomed to…we’re pretty much sending them back on the efforts of their parents and their previous generations, so that’s pretty upsetting. Everybody deserves a chance to do something.  And what’s the biggest, most upsetting part is that they’re not even capable of controlling it.  They were brought here… and to throw them out like that without any sense of help … If they don’t know how they function over there, it’s like taboo.  They just have no idea.”