By Félix V. Matos Rodríguez
For us at CUNY, this isn’t political; this is personal.
That’s why we are redoubling our efforts to support them. I established the Chancellor’s Emergency Relief Fund to help our students weather the current crisis and directed my staff to prioritize undocumented students in the latest rounds of grants. We have secured $700,000 in donations to increase the number of undocumented students we can support.
If the court ends DACA (It did not happen), scholars expect people with DACA status will be protected until their authorization expires. We are urging students to contact CUNY Citizenship Now!, the nation’s largest university legal assistance program, to get free help renewing their DACA status. We have secured $25,000 from an anonymous donor to cover the renewal fees.
I have asked CUNY college presidents to appoint two immigrant student success liaisons per campus, to ensure that the needs of our undocumented students are being met and that they know their options. Thankfully, Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature showed true leadership and passed the New York State José Peralta DREAM Act, enabling undocumented students to qualify for financial aid.
CUNY is also well represented in the SCOTUS battle to save DACA: Two-time CUNY graduate Antonio Alarcón, along with current CUNY School of Law student Carlos Vargas, Hunter College graduate Carolina Fung Feng and two other former CUNY students, are co-plaintiffs. Their futures, along with those of nearly 700,000 other DACA participants nationwide, hang in the balance.
It certainly makes sense that students from CUNY — with its proud history of providing a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background, and of standing with immigrants and new Americans — are playing a lead role in this fight. Alarcón, who graduated from LaGuardia Community College in 2015 and Queens College in 2019, will deliver the keynote address at LaGuardia’s virtual commencement celebration on June 16.
“I want to talk about hope,” Alarcón says of his remarks, “so that students know they have to fight for what they believe in.” Alarcón came to New York with his family from Mexico when he was 10 years old and then spent his first year here in his bedroom out of fear of being deported. He later attended city public schools, where he excelled before finding a home at CUNY.
CUNY stands firmly with our undocumented students. CUNY is a university of immigrants and when we support our undocumented students, we support our own.
Matos Rodríguez is the chancellor of CUNY, America’s largest urban university system.