The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Presidents of Jesuit student governments around country sign joint DACA support statement

MUSG+president+Ben+Dombrowski+was+one+of+the+28+student+government+leaders+to+sign+a+joint+statement+among+American+jesuit+universities++pledging+support+of+DACA+students+last+month.
Photo by Matthew Serafin [email protected]
MUSG president Ben Dombrowski was one of the 28 student government leaders to sign a joint statement among American jesuit universities pledging support of DACA students last month.

Following President Donald Trump’s declaration on Sept. 5 that he plans to repeal DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the presidents of the student governments at all 28 Jesuit universities in the United States signed a joint statement pledging support to undocumented students at their universities.

Ben Dombrowski, president of Marquette University Student Government, is a signatory on the statement. Dombrowski said he believes the letter is a reaffirmation of Marquette’s mission. After President Trump released the statement about ending DACA, Dombrowski said it was a clear calling for Jesuit universities to do their part.

What’s so important about this particular letter is that it calls us to action. We are signing something saying we are going to do this and provide more education to this issue,” he said.

Creating the document was a long time in the making, according to Dombrowski. Many student government presidents from  Jesuit universities attended the National Jesuit Student Leadership Conference this past summer at Georgetown University, which Dombrowski said was a starting point for the statement.

At the conference, students were able to voice their concerns about issues they cared about.

“Leading up to the actual announcement by President Trump, we had a day where we got to meet with our state representatives and talk about DACA,”  Dombrowski said.

After the conference, attendees used the National Jesuit Student Government Presidents Facebook page to keep the conversation going. 

Hayden Tanabe, student government president at Loyola Marymount University, spearheaded the movement.

“With our unifying mission underlining the importance of standing in solidarity with all students, regardless of national origin, I knew that our Jesuit counterparts would be the ones to turn to first,” Tanabe said.

He began to contact other Jesuit institutions. It took over a month for student government presidents at each of the universities to sign the document and add their contributions.

Both presidents hope the pushes for change will not end here with this statement.

“This past week, LMU held a “DREAM ACTion Week” that not only educated our students about DACA and the DREAM Act, but also put the focus on the calling of legislators. We offered rewards and incentives for students to call their legislators this week with a special link created by the Ignatian Solidarity Network,” Tanabe said.

Marquette University hosted its first Dreamer’s Gala this past year, raising more than $20,000 for an undocumented student’s scholarship.

Dombrowski thinks the university is taking “great initial steps,” yet believes there are always more actions to take.

As of now, Marquette has not declared themselves a sanctuary school, a term used to describe those universities that offer protection to students who protect their undocumented students.

According to a statement released by the university, “Marquette University and the Marquette University Police Department will follow the law, but will not act as an arm of federal immigration enforcement.”

Dombrowski said the statement means that MUPD will never solely enforce immigration laws on or off campus, but also will not allow non-MUPD agents on university property without a lawful warrant.

He believes that Marquette is not a sanctuary campus for various reasons.

“There is no legal definition to ‘sanctuary campus,’ so if our university makes such a declaration, it could simply just be words without any obligation to action,” Dombrowski said. 

University President Michael Lovell has urged students affected by the potential  reversal to come speak to the administration. In a statement he released last month, he said, “This is about real people who have done nothing wrong and deserve the chance to succeed — to walk across the stage with their classmates at Commencement and go on to contribute so much more to our community and our country.”

Story continues below advertisement
View Comments (1)
More to Discover

Comments (1)

All Marquette Wire Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • A

    ampie molinaOct 21, 2017 at 11:26 am

    What the taxpayers have paid because of illegal immigration is the real crime.What I find most interesting is the all out BLITZ by the Democrats, MSM, every faculty member at any university in the country fighting to the death for illegal aliens? they put a warm and fuzzy name on it “Dreamers.” and no one seem to wonder why? future voters? can you imagine the Democrats ever being this interested or motivated in issues involving citizens! There is an estimated 800,000 DACA recipients in the US. That is 800,000 jobs American Citizens don’t have or will be in competition for.

    The MSM and Democrats would have us believe that all 800 thousand are not taking jobs Americans want (we’ve heard that lie for many years now.) This is another falsehood told to the American people. Democrats have actually changed the language. It’s not illegal alien its “Immigrant.” (like the lie there just ‘Kids”) there not all picking strawberries they take great Jobs. Good enough jobs to buy homes put their kids through college.Why must the citizens of our country have competition for jobs, education in their own country from foreign nationals? Now Democrats and illegal alien activists admit DACA recipients have great jobs,are buying homes, paying taxes.

    The GOAL, motivation (Democrats just haven’t figured this out yet) is for the American citizens to be employed, sending their kids to college, buying homes and paying taxes. It’s not the responsibility of the citizens of this country to support, educate citizens from other country’s.Deportation will save jobs and decrease the expense of illegal aliens.

    Some” of the costs associated with illegal immigration in dollars and blood..

    *The cost of educating illegal aliens children is staggering. From K-12 it costs taxpayers $122,000 for EACH illegal alien student.

    *Now city, and state officials are appropriating millions of taxpayer dollars for legal fees to to file law suits and in defense of illegal aliens being deported.

    *2012 illegal aliens sent home $62 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. This is why Mexico is getting involved in our politics.

    *30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. Does not include local jails and State Prisons. At $21,000 per year expense per inmate in Federal Prison—U do the math.

    *$3Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens, I repeat 3 MILLION a DAY to process Illegals in the Criminal justice system.

    *$2.2Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as SNAP (food stamps),WIC, & free school lunches.

    There is also an incredible public safety issues.

    http://www.ojjpac.org/memorial.asp
    http://www.illegalaliencrimereport.com/
    http://www.wnd.com/…/big-list-of-86-horrific-illegal…/

    Reply