The Pullman and Moscow community came together Sunday afternoon, to speak on the topic of immigration reform.

Over 100 supporters came to share their ideas and thoughts on the Trump Administration’s activities concerning the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrival program.

The primary speakers during the rally offered personal stories, ways to participate in the community and explained the impact this issue has on Idaho and Washington.

Chair of the Moscow Human Rights Commission Ken Faunce said the goal of the rally was to show students that may be affected by DACA that they had support.
“We wanted this event to show support to the DACA recipients, the undocumented community that there are people here that care and want to support them,” he said.

He furthered explained that he wishes that through this rally, the community would become active members and stand alongside them in defense of immigration policies.

WSU alumna and Global Campus staff member, Sina Sam, specifically focused on the 2 million undocumented Asian Americans living in the U.S. She shared her family’s personal experience as genocide survivors in the 1970’s secret war in Cambodia and their road to becoming legal citizens in America.

Sam stressed that there are groups, such as the Unity on Campus/SPLC and Crimson Group, on campus that act as an outlet for students who struggle with not feeling safe at WSU because of their citizenship status.

Angel Davila and Luis Aleman, co-founders of the Here for Our Peoples Empowerment group (HOPE) at the University of Idaho, recently created the group to support undocumented students.

“We want to facilitate conversation on immigration reform and systematic change,” Aleman said.

He clarified that because the group is focused at the UI campus, the hope is to later create a consensus of how the group can expand and that they hope to get the community as well as WSU involved.

One of the last speakers at the rally, Jose Manuel Carrillo of Community to Community Development and Detention Watch, said citizens should use their rights to work against institutions that dehumanize immigrants.

“No human being deserves to be detained and deported,” Carrillo said.

Correction: This article has been revised to reflect that Sina Sam is a Global Campus staff member, not a Global Campus faculty member.