The Sacramento City College Undocumented Resource Center organized an informational session at the Sacramento City College Student Center on Tuesday, Oct. 15, as part of its Undocumented Student Month of Action events.
Student Support Specialist Angelica Garcia Galvan opened up the session by introducing the program and welcoming everybody to the event. Galvan then introduced the keynote speaker for the event, sociology professor Belinda Lum. Lum advocates for undocumented workers and immigrants, as she is an immigrant herself and understands the challenges.
“Undocumented Resource Team was put in place to serve as support for undocumented people. I love working for the program,” Glavan said. “I just wanted to be that special person that anyone could go to and discuss anything with.”
During Lum’s speech, she told her back story, how hard it was for her growing up, and about her work with immigrants. Lum then showed a historical video of how immigrants were treated trying to come to America.
“The Obama administration did very little to improve immigration policy and, in fact, deported more undocumented immigrants through workplace raids than the four administrations prior to him. Although he implemented DACA, there was no pathway to citizenship. The Trump administration used very different tactics that instead of legislation or changing immigration rules, he resorted to racist attacks on immigrants. Biden had the ability to pass something through Congress but failed to do so,” Lum later said.
After Lum answered questions, she then put on a slide show titled “How Immigrant Activism Created Change in CA.” Some examples of change from the slide show were creating legislation that improves the lives of undocumented students. The California Dream Act is similar to financial aid. In addition, the California Dream Act allows eligible students to pay in-state tuition at any public college in California. Assembly Bill 540 helps eligible students avoid paying higher nonresident tuition and apply for state financial aid at select California public and private colleges.
Lum lastly showed how immigrants could help and get involved in the fight for immigrant acceptance. Some examples were United We Dream, Immigrants Rising, and UndocuBlack Network. Behind each subject was a brief description of how each program could help students succeed in the world and accomplish their dreams.
Lum then handed the event back to Galvan, who was able to tell her story of how she got her title at City College and of her struggles through her classes. She stated she was very proud of her accomplishments. The event closed with a raffle for people to win T-shirts and hats, followed by a group photo.
