Students for Migrant Justice is a new organization on campus that hopes to educate the UT and Knoxville communities about the immigration process and also support immigrant students. A large part of the organization’s mission focuses on the relationships that many have with those in the migrant community.
On campus, the organization hopes to have educational programs, and later in the semester they will be hosting a “History of Immigration” event that will be presented by lawyers. They also plan on sharing census education and aiding Centro Hispano de East TN with their census programming as well.
Taylor Dempsey is a sophomore in the College Scholars program and is studying immigration studies with an emphasis in Latin America. She is the director of partnerships and external involvement in Students for Migrant Justice, as well as co-founder of the organization.
Dempsey stated that the migrant community within Knoxville and UT is one of the most important communities and there needs to be more understanding about the immigration policies that are being implemented.
“I think it is incredibly important that the community, especially UT, learns more about immigration reform because Knox County has a strong migrant population and some of the worst immigration laws in the state. Knox County has signed onto a policy known as 287(g) that formalizes the relationship between ICE and local law enforcement,” Dempsey said.
The legislation mentioned by Dempsey, Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, allows certain state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws. Students for Migrant Justice plans to fight back against this law.
Dempsey explained how this law leads to deportation.
“Knox County sheriffs can act as deputized ICE agents through this program, allowing them to initiate deportation proceedings among other things. It is important that the Knoxville community understands that immigration reform is not just a border issue, it is a Knoxville issue as well,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey also explained that immigrant students in particular are greatly affected by the uncertainty surrounding the permanence of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the immigration policy that allows certain undocumented immigrants in the United States a two-year period of deferred action from deportation. During that time, these immigrants may become eligible to obtain a U.S. work permit, social security number and education, among other benefits.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services outlines in more detail the specific requirements to be considered for DACA, with one of the main requirements being that eligible immigrants must have arrived to the U.S. before their 16th birthday.
DACA was created in 2012 under President Barack Obama as an executive branch memorandum. In recent years, the Trump administration has discussed ending the DACA program.
DACA greatly affects college students; many collegiate immigrants attend college in the United States because of the program.
Dempsey emphasized the importance of UT students supporting student migrants and migrants in general.
“The migrant community is a vital part of Knoxville, and UT students need to mobilize and stand in solidarity with this community. It is imperative that we start to use our collective power as students to show our legislators and sheriffs that the UTK campus will not stand for this,” Dempsey said.
Luis Mata is a junior studying political science with a concentration in public administration, and he is the co-founder and president of Students for Migrant Justice.
Mata said that there is still much to do when it comes to immigration reform but feels positively about SMJ’s future impact.
“As we join forces with many local immigrant-focused organizations, the future of our organization is looking very promising,” Mata said. “There is much work to be done, especially in the Southeast region, and we are equipped and ready with passionate, aspiring and effective allies who are ready to join the movement. ”
He added that SMJ hopes to help educate others in the community and on campus about different ways to reach reform.
“The goals we plan to meet are educating the University of Tennessee campus about the immigration system, partnering with organizations on campus and in the Knoxville community to mobilize and work towards immigration reform and migrant justice, and empowering on and off campus student immigrants by providing resources and solidarity.”
For anyone who is interested, Students for Migrant Justice has bi-weekly meetings on Wednesdays. SMJ can be found on Instagram and Twitter at @utk_smj. SMJ also recommends getting involved with other local organizations supporting migrants as well.
This article was updated to reflect more accurate information regarding DACA and undocumented immigration.
