Students, faculty respond to deportation efforts
By Caroline Haviland
Deportation is a lingering reality in the minds of immigrants all over the nation, as in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has implemented 10 executive orders aiming to upend the immigration system.
Within these executive orders are policies and programs that Trump reintroduced from his first term, such as broadening deportation targets, temporarily pausing refugee entries and insisting foreign governments receive their own nationals post-deportation, according to ProPublica.
While the Biden administration focused illegal immigrant arrests on those deemed a threat to the country, the Trump administration has expanded those parameters to arrest anyone in the country illegally, according to ProPublica.
However, many immigrants come to the United States seeking a new beginning for their families and work tirelessly to obtain the “American dream,” a sentiment expressed by a student source who wished to remain anonymous in fear of their family members’ safety.
“Immigrants like my parents don’t mean any harm,” the source said. “They just want to be able to provide for their families and live a good life.”
The student’s parents immigrated illegally from Mexico in the early 2000s after finding a way to Arizona and flying to New Jersey, where they eventually began their new life and family. The student, who was born in the U.S., recalled his parents working around the clock, each with two jobs as a chef and waitress, to support their family.
“My parents are doing all of this for a good reason, to support me and my brother. I have the privilege that they work so hard to give me the opportunity to be more successful. I always want to have the same work ethic as my parents, and hopefully one day I can give back to them,” the student said.
After living in the U.S. for decades, the student’s parents live in fear of being forced to return back to Mexico and leave their children behind.
“[My parents] would joke about it and be like ‘Hey we’re going to get deported,’ but I know it’s more than just joking,” the student said. “They actually feel like that especially when [Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids] are happening in New Jersey.”
An international student from Spain, who wished to be anonymous for their safety, expressed their concern for further executive orders from the Trump administration.
“It’s not that I’m scared that I will lose my visa, or scared that I will get deported tomorrow, but I’m more worried about what will happen for international students. It’s already really hard for us to get citizenship or a visa,” the student said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow there was a new order that said no more international students can stay in America. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow I was forced to go back home.”
Professor responds
Barbara Franz, a political science professor, found the data regarding recent deportations to be “wishy washy,” as government statistics show the number of people arrested from ICE raids range daily from 850 to 1,100 people.
It is unclear who these arrested people are, and what they did to prompt an arrest.
“In Miami, a teacher got arrested who had been teaching for 23 years and she got deported back to Honduras. One would think she probably did not have papers, but she was living in Florida for over 20 years,” said Franz. “There are people who have been deported that have had real lives, have families, have careers, involved in the community and it’s problematic.”
However, these occurrences are not new to the U.S., as the Biden administration carried out 1.1 million expulsions from 2021 to 2024, almost matching the 1.5 million deportations during Trump’s first term.
Franz believed the difference in public outrage lies in an increase of media coverage to steer people away from other problems within the new administration.
“It’s all over the media and people are scared. So I feel the objective of this is to scare the living hell out of people, which works fairly well, and to distract from what else is going on,” said Franz. “That’s my thing with the Trump administration.”
Administrative response
Rider’s University Communications sent a universitywide email on Jan. 29 detailing important protocols to follow if federal agents are seen on campus, such as contacting Public Safety, not engaging with the federal agents and reassuring yourself and other students around you.
Following the release of the initial email, the university has continued to monitor the developments from Washington, D.C., and the potential impact on Rider students, faculty and staff, according to Vice President of External Affairs Kristine Brown.
“We have to be a little patient as we see how some of these initiatives unfold. … I think it’s prudent for Rider and all other higher education institutions to be understanding of this, looking into this, doing our homework, doing our preparation and really trying to understand what the impact of all of these [executive orders] are,” said Brown. “I think everybody is also amid a lot of information, and we need to try to just take a moment and breathe to process all of this.”
Brown encouraged any student personally affected by the ongoing deportation efforts to reach out to other students, offices, departments or external resources that they feel comfortable going to.
“Don’t stay quiet, come forward, talk to people privately, confidentially, whatever it needs to be,” said Brown. “There’s certainly people at Rider that are willing to help.”
