If you have been paying attention to the news, there is a lot going on. Recently, ICE announced international students must depart from the US if they attend schools operating entirely online this semester. This is absolutely terrifying for foreign students who will not be able to return to their countries—I would say home, but this is their home right now—and might face deportation. Many do not know this is happening, but those who know have turned to social media in order to defend international students and their right to be here. In this post, I will be sharing information regarding this topic for people to reach out and help in whatever way they can.

 United We Dream

There are plenty of organizations working to help immigrants and international students. United We Dream has the goal to “empower people to develop their leadership, their organizing skills, and to develop our own campaigns to fight for justice and dignity for immigrants and all people. This is achieved through immigrant youth-led campaigns at the local, state, and federal level." Their team is composed of over 60% womxn and 20% LGBTQ+ people. The great thing about this organization is they organize themselves in the streets, building cutting edge technology systems, opening doors for LGBTQ+ immigrant youth, clearing pathways to education, stopping deportations, or creating alliances across social movements to put undocumented immigrant youth in the driver’s seat to strategize, innovate, and win.

Everything they do is based on eight guiding principles:

1. People most affected are at the forefront.
2. Being democratic and accountable.
3. Invest in leadership development, training, and mentoring.
4. Create a loving community.
5. Empower the whole person.
6. Committed to nonviolence.
7. We are part of a global community.
8. Our stories are power.

Instagram user @hrwitkin’s useful information

Hannah is a University of Rochester student who took advantage of her over 1,000 Instagram followers to post information regarding this topics both in English and in Spanish—she is working to get the message translated to more languages. In her first post, she shared different ways in which people can help by spreading the word (making sure those impacted know what is happening), registering to vote, donating to different organizations helping immigrants, and doing your research. She also created a very resourceful link to share information and different petitions people can sign to help.

theslacktivists’s Insightful Instagram Post

theslacktivists is a community based comprehensive media that shared a post four days ago that read: “What better way to celebrate America than tearing down the structures of injustice that keep immigrants and people of color from living freely? We need to #AbolishICE now. Here’s a breakdown of ICE, the movement to abolish it, and why we need to act now." This post contained several images explaining what ICE is planning on doing. Their very insightful explanation is divided in categories: What is ICE?, History of ICE, ICE Under Obama and Trump, What is the #AbolishICE Movement?, Reasons to #AbolishICE, What Does #AbolishICE Look Like?, How can you Help #AbolishICE?, and Sources & More Reading.

ABC7LA’s Instagram Post

BC7LA informed this July 8th about Harvard, MIT suing to block ICE. Their post read: “Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Trump administration's decision to force international students to leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if they take classes entirely online this fall." You can find more information regarding this process on their website.

It is important to stay informed on this topic since it will affect thousands of students all over the US. International students have their right to be here on the Visa they were able to get thanks to their studies. Many of them are unable to go home for different reasons, particularly travel being reduced due to COVID-19. We need to do our part to stand by them, give them our support, and help them in whatever way we can. These sources are just a few of the ways in which you can provide help.