The Student Immigrant Alliance invited the UMass Boston community to “Smash ICE” Oct. 9 to raise awareness for abuse within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement system.
The group also aimed to spread the word about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a program that allows eligible young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country to work and study. It gives them extra time to gain legal status without fear of deportation. This program, however, is at risk, with multiple states claiming it was hurting them due to the funding that goes into it, according to CNN.
At the event, participants used rubber mallets to smash bags of ice on the Campus Center lawn. The event also had a poster board and handouts with information and resources for student immigrants and their allies. Participants were required to sign a waiver and wear safety glasses.
Julia Nascimento, president of the Student Immigrant Alliance, spoke about the club and the resources being provided for immigrants on campus. “You don’t necessarily need to be an immigrant to join the club, you can just be an ally and come in. If you’re passionate about the community, you can just come in and do some sort of events like this. We do work closely with the ISP program, the immigration program, and in that program they offer the resources such as scholarships because a lot of times immigrants have a very limited amount of scholarships they can apply [for],” she said.
Nascimento encouraged anyone interested in being involved with the Student Immigrant Alliance to do so, whether they are an immigrant themselves, a descendant of immigrants, or an ally.
“I think that a lot of times people are kind of afraid of even telling that they are immigrants themselves because there’s such a stigma to it. I just want to make sure that everybody in the UMass campus community knows that it’s safe. We’re safe here,” she said.
The Student Immigrant Alliance held a flag-making event on Oct. 17, where community members made flags to represent their cultural identity.
Nascimento said it is important to hold these events during an election season, especially with many immigration rights at stake.
“Something that we’ve been focusing on this beginning of the semester is having events that are supposed to help calm down and take that stress out. We had a bracelet-making event where a lot of students reported that they they like to just stop for a minute, make a little bracelet and talk to other immigrants in the community. So that’s more where we’re trying to focus because of such tension that we have in the immigrant community,” she said.
In addition to these events, the Student Immigrant Alliance also holds general body meetings on Thursdays from 3 to 4 p.m. in Suite 3400 on the third floor of Campus Center.
Said Nascimento, “This is a safe space for everybody, no matter what the status is, no matter who they are, no matter what it is. This is a safe space for everybody.”
This article appeared in print on Page 3 of Vol. LVIII Issue V, published Oct. 21, 2024.
