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NEWS
Thursday, June 1, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Campus and city leaders reflect on immigration events
in Ann Arbor community, discuss action moving forward
Leaders on campus
and the city of Ann
Arbor affirm strong
intent to protect the
immigrant populace
By JENNIFER MEER
Summer Managing News Editor
In the aftermath of incidents
involving immigration spanning
several months, campus and Ann
Arbor leaders affirm a strong intent
to protect immigrants in the area, in
reaction to the new political climate
created during President Donald J.
Trump’s first 100 days.
Earlier this month, the Washt-
enaw County Board of Commission-
ers pledged $145,000 in taxpayer
funds to services for immigrants and
undocumented residents. The board
passed three resolutions by a vote
of 6 to 1 — one of which affirms the
funding, while the other two pre-
vent county officials from asking for
an individual’s immigration status
under most circumstances and ask
Congress to modify immigration
policy such that it “creates clear and
reasonable immigration sanctions
short of deportation for noncitizens
convicted of crimes.”
The funds are to be split between
the Barrier Busters coalition — sev-
eral agencies that provide short-term
support for citizens and immigrants
— and the Michigan Immigrant
Rights Center, a resource for immi-
grants and immigrant advocates in
Michigan.
In a May interview, Sara Cusack,
an LSA alum who now works for
MIRC said the funding will be very
useful, speaking for herself and not
as a representative of MIRC.
“The grant that Washtenaw just
agreed to give to MIRC… will hope-
fully in the future allow us to have an
attorney who focuses on immigra-
tion matters specifically in Washt-
enaw County, whereas right now
we serve all of Michigan broadly
and have really limited resources,”
Cusack said. “We have to be very
stringent about what types of cases
we can take, and so what Washt-
enaw County is kind of saying by
giving this donation to MIRC is that
they’re investing in the wellbeing of
immigrants and their community.”
In Ann Arbor, the city council is
no stranger to immigration support
either.
In an interview, City Coun-
cil Member Chuck Warpehoski
(D–Ward 5) reflected back on the
work the council has done in recent
months to protect immigrants.
“I think, in broad strokes, Ann
Arbor is a diverse community and
immigrants are important members
of our community — both document-
ed and undocumented,” he said. “We
want to make our community safe
and welcoming for everybody.”
In January, the council passed
a resolution urging then-President
Barack Obama to protect students
who applied to the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals program.
Established by Obama in 2012,
DACA allows undocumented immi-
grant youth, under certain circum-
stances, to receive a deferral from
deportation as well as a work permit.
At the council meeting, Jessica
Provinski, a member of BAMN —
the Coalition to Defend Affirmative
COURTESY OF KEVIN BIGLIN
New DPS Superintendent Nikolai Vitti discusses major changes he plans to
implement in the school district next year.
Action, Integration and Immigrant
Rights and Fight for Equality By Any
Means Necessary — said she hoped to
see Obama sign one last order before
he left office.
“(Obama) must use his executive
power to do everything he can to
defend young immigrant recipients
of the DACA program,” Provinski
said. “If we are to defend each other
and our society from a dark future,
we must protect the most vulnerable
of us.”
One day prior to the passage of the
resolution, on Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, the University Michigan chap-
ter of BAMN organized a protest
against the inauguration of President
Donald Trump, specifically oppos-
ing his plans to change immigration
reform.
The week prior, Central Student
Government passed a resolution ask-
ing Obama to protect undocumented
students by a vote of 26 to 4 with 7
abstaining. The policy, introduced
by BAMN, asked CSG to send a state-
ment to the White House in support
of DACA students. A similar resolu-
tion, authored by memeber of the OG
execuvtive board, had, in fact, passed
CSG last December, though at the
time only served to express solidarity
with undocumented students.
Additionally, in late January, Uni-
versity President Mark Schlissel
released a statement to affirm the
University’s commitment to inter-
national students and faculty. The
statement was written in response to
an executive order signed by Trump
banning immigration and travel of
people from many Muslim-majority
countries.
Despite
all
such
measures,
undocumented students at the
University still worry for their
futures under the Trump adminis-
tration. In February, four undocu-
mented individuals were detained
by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement during a raid in Ypsi-
lanti.
In a March interview, a female
student, who asked to remain anon-
ymous due to concern for the safety
of herself and her family, described
the fear associated with living as
an undocumented resident.
Duggan said. “We can do this. And
we can keep people downtown.”
On the topic of economic
segregation, Duggan said the
city will not help finance any
housing development unless they
allocate at least 20 percent to
being affordable units. The mayor
turned to successes of this policy
with the Strathmore apartments
in midtown. They were renovated
over the last three years and now
offer 40 percent of their units to
lower-income renters.
“I’ve got 20 separate projects
across
the
downtown
and
midtown
area
with
1,000
guaranteed
affordable
units,”
Duggan said. “Instead of being
stuck over here in six towers,
with the poor in one place, and
everybody else somewhere else,
we spread the affordable housing
across downtown and midtown
because this is what we believe as
a city.”
Another principle for Duggan
over the past three years has been
blight removal. While restoring
as many houses as possible and
removing those deemed unsafe,
Detroit has been able to increase
property values.
“The
homesale
prices
are
up 50 percent,” Duggan said.
“If you listen to the media, you
would think it’s in downtown
and
midtown,
and
nothing’s
happening in the neighborhoods.
In the neighborhoods, they know
that the great majority of the
neighborhoods have seen home
improvements of more than 50
percent in the property values.”
The city is removing urban
blight at an unprecedented rate,
with 4,000 houses being torn
down per year, which is four
times faster than any other U.S.
city. Duggan said 1,500 formerly
vacant houses are now fully
restored and another 1,500 are in
the process of rehabilitation.
“People thought Detroit had no
future,” Duggan said. “When you
take out the burned down houses
on the block, people will buy the
other houses.”
HOUSING
From Page 1
said. “It can’t just be babysitting. It
has to be deep intervention and
literacy development. I think the
opportunity for the school district
is to have curriculum that’s directly
aligned to the standards. We can’t
wait until third grade to make sure
students are on grade level.”
A
major
factor
inhibiting
educational
development,
according to Vitti, is poverty.
This, he said, leads to social and
emotional distress, which wears on
many students’ ability to learn.
“We
can’t
talk
about
our
children and our school system
without talking about poverty,”
Vitti said. “There has to be ways
of overcoming literacy challenges
at young ages, early learning
opportunities, access to address
social and emotional needs, mental
wellness needs — those are real
factors that get in the way of being
on grade level in reading, math
science and social studies.”
DETROIT
From Page 1
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