
The “Know Your Rights” live session Jan. 25 provided students, employees and families information on understanding immigrant rights under the new presidential administration. The session, sponsored by the Office of the President, included three expert panelists from the LA area — Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) Angelica Salas ’93, President of and General Counsel to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) Thomas Saenz, and Executive Director of Gateway Cities Council of Governments Hector De La Torre ’89. Throughout the event, the speakers frequently alternated between English and Spanish.
The panelists talked about various ways in which immigrants can combat the fear that Trump is trying to push throughout the nation. Salas, Saenz and De La Torre focused on Trump’s recent executive orders, attempts to end birthright citizenship and the closing down of refugee entrance into the United States.
According to the panelists, the act of resisting all pressure and fear imposed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials is crucial. Panelists said that regardless of someone’s citizenship, just being in the U.S., especially residing here for several years, makes them eligible for certain rights, such as the First Amendment, right to due process and right to an attorney after being detained.
According to Saenz, the Department of Homeland Security’s new directives, which strip schools and other locations such as churches and healthcare facilities of their sanctuary status, are particularly harmful for immigrants. Saenz said that every child has the right to attend K-12 grade without obstruction. While there is no right to attend higher education institutions, when students pay for tuition, Saez said, they have a contract instituted where they have the right to receive what they paid for.

Panelists also brought awareness to the rights that immigrants hold whilst encountering ICE, including the right to not open the door of one’s home for ICE without a warrant and the importance of an administrative warrant over a judicial one. They emphasized the right to remain silent and the right to not provide a signature for any form to reduce the chances of undocumented immigrants being coerced into signing voluntary departure forms.
“They lie all the time, from their uniforms to their forms, they lie all the time,” Salas said.
According to the panelists, ICE uses several intimidation and scare tactics to attempt to detain immigrants in public places and relies on collaboration with law enforcement officials to create a disadvantage for undocumented immigrants.
Salas said there are numerous resources available for immigrants, however, such as CHIRLA, which gives immigrants access to an immigrant assistance referral line and legal assistance.
“Every time that any government branch tries to say that immigrants do not have rights, we prove that they do,” Salas said.

Hannah Lieberman (sophomore) said she resonated with the panelists’ emphasis on being brave in the face of law enforcement agencies.
“I found it particularly interesting that [Saenz], one of the speakers, put the responsibility [on the college] to be brave in this moment and to say to ICE officials and anyone trying to come on this campus, ‘This is not your place,’” Lieberman said.
The panelists said that knowing one’s rights is paramount for navigating issues such as what the next steps are for mixed status families in the state of California, what filling out federal aid forms is going to look like and fear of whether or not Trump’s rhetoric will cause private parties to participate in discrimination. The panelists said that a part of knowing an individual’s human, civil and constitutional rights is knowing how to exercise them and that constitutional rights are the same throughout the U.S., regardless of one’s city or country of origin.
Francisco Zamora, a facilities worker, said the session provided valuable information.
“They touched on a lot of important topics, and I think that it is going to help us all know our rights, which I personally did not know about,” Zamora said.
Nataly Mesinas (first year) said the session was clear and informative.
“It was really straightforward; they did not sugarcoat anything, and they mentioned the fear [many people feel] which is so true,” Mesinas said.
Contact Evelyn Almanza at ealmanza@oxy.edu