The image shown is intentionally AI-generated with slight imperfections to protect the identities of at-risk international students who could face serious consequences if personally identified in advocacy materials related to this petition.

On April 9th, San Mateo Community College District employees received notice from Chancellor Moreno that a student’s visa had been terminated by the Federal Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). This is the first time SEVP has terminated an I-20 of a student in this District. Soon after, on April 11th, employees at Foothill-De Anza Community College District received confirmation from Chancellor Lambert that at least nine student F-1 visas had been revoked. Between our two districts, this accounted for 50% of all confirmed California community college student visa revocations (source: Inside Higher Ed). The number is likely to grow. 

The new Federal policies attacking immigrants, free speech, and higher education at four year universities are now targeting our community colleges, where students are especially vulnerable to repression, injustice, and violence inflicted by the state. Our faculty believe these deportations cause irreparable harm to students, impede the functioning of our colleges, damage community faith in our institutions, and erode our fundamental freedoms. 

Following the HANDS OFF our Students! statement released by the San Mateo Federation of Teachers AFT 1493 on March 18th and the April 8th approval of the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees Sanctuary Resolution, our faculty unions support the following pledges and demand that our Districts’ administrations act immediately in support of our immigrant and international students by doing the following:

1. Seek action in the federal courts to halt the termination of students’ legal status without due process or prior communication with their Districts.
    
2. Guarantee legal support from each campus for students whose visas are revoked, including pursuing all legal options that allow students to remain in the country and continue their studies.
    
3. Ensure that any student whose visa and/or legal status is revoked and who is either detained or deported can remain enrolled in their SMCCCD and FHDA courses at their campus and continue their program of study remotely until its completion.
    
4. Work with the Academic Senate of the Districts and campuses to ensure academic and other institutional support for students whose immigration status is impacted or may be jeopardized.
    
5. Continue to dispense fellowship, stipend, grant, and scholarship funds to any student who is detained and/or deported, and ensure that this funding continues until the completion of their relevant course of study.
    
6. Maintain sufficient transparency with our campuses regarding the number, current status, whereabouts, and specific visa termination violations for all affected students, specifically those revocations associated with academic freedom and first amendment rights to free speech.

We further reach out in solidarity to our classified unions, academic and classified senates, student governments, and all other supportive community members to encourage them to join us in this struggle as we spread it into a regional and statewide movement. 

San Mateo Federation of Teachers AFT 1493

Foothill-De Anza Faculty Association

City College of San Francisco Faculty Union AFT2121

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