Undergraduate Student Government Tempe held its second meeting of the spring semester on Tuesday, where senators voted against a resolution regarding events hosting Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection on campus.
The resolution, SR 14, was proposed by Barrett, The Honors College Senator Diane Solorio and New College Senator Bridget Saidu, both sophomores. It called for University administration to "proactively work with student leaders to find a way to provide students with any type of notification" when ICE or CBP are going to be on campus.
"Although the University has already committed to notify students when ICE is brought by the Career and Professional Services Department, at the moment, there is no way to inform students when (they are) brought by student organizations," Solorio said in an email.
The resolution comes after protests when ICE was invited to a career fair in April 2019 and when College Republicans United was set to host ICE at a club meeting in November 2019.
The senators voiced their thoughts and concerns on the resolution before conducting their vote.
W.P. Carey Senator Jack Fuller, a junior, said during the discussion of the bill that the resolution seems like it would be an overstep.
"President Crow said (he) supports DACA students, USG passed something supporting DACA students," Fuller said. "I feel like this is almost unnecessary because again, we are now risking on infringing on other people’s freedom of speech."
Barrett, The Honors College Senator Megan Hall, a sophomore, hoped that SR 14 would provide a safer community for undocumented students.
During the discussion, Hall said the resolution is "simply about the safety of undocumented or first-generation students — that’s it."
The resolution did not pass and is no longer on the Senate agenda.
USGT received backlash from activist groups for voting down SR 14 after passing a resolution in support of students under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Resolution 13, passed during the Jan. 14 meeting, states that USGT will support DACA and undocumented students during the U.S. Supreme Court trial that is currently ongoing.
Young Democratic Socialists of America at ASU chairperson Tanzil Chowdhury, a senior studying materials science and engineering, said that YDSA is unhappy about SR 14 being voted against.
"Students do not feel safe knowing ICE can show up on campus at any moment," Chowdhury said. "We are really upset that USG did not pass this resolution."
Senators also argued that the language of the resolution was confusing and repetitive.
Barrett Senator Katherine Hostal, a sophomore, said that although she does like the principle behind the bill, she recognizes that not everyone can seem to make up their minds due to the way the resolution is written.
"I think there is still a conversation to be had about this, just written in a different way because it seems like that’s the issue," Hostal said during the Senate discussion. "I don’t think voting no on this bill means that this idea is inherently wrong or bad."
SR 14 will be rewritten and resubmitted, and Solorio hopes that it will receive broader support from the Senate.
In response to the resolution being rewritten, Chowdhury said that YDSA always hopes that USG can do the right thing, but they wouldn’t bet on it.
"We have seen multiple times already that USG is not representative of the students," Chowdhury said. "This (resolution) is saying that (students) will be notified — I don’t know how you can get more moderate than that."
Reach the reporter at nnano@asu.edu and follow @halentinos on Twitter.
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