The University of Connecticut sent an email to students and employees on Friday, April 4, outlining resources and support for those concerned with immigration status.
The email began by acknowledging the university “received numerous questions and concerns from faculty, staff, and students.”
“UConn is a global community with students, faculty, and staff from throughout the world,” the email said. “We want to do all we can to share information and resources that may be useful to those community members who are impacted, or potentially impacted, during this challenging time.”
The email attached a link to a list of resources relating to immigration. This page on UConn Today lists legal resources, links to information about immigrant rights, community partners for immigrants and the State of Connecticut Family Preparedness Plan.
“We will update the site as additional resources are identified,” the email added.
The email also clarifies that UConn “cannot devote resources to funding or otherwise supporting” personal costs for specific individuals “based on their association with UConn,” as public resources cannot provide private benefits unavailable to the public.
This means that UConn cannot fund legal representation for employees or students. According to the email, the university has frequently been receiving questions about whether the university could help with legal representation for students or employees “accused of being out of compliance with immigration laws.”
“Although the University is prohibited from offering legal representation or financial assistance for legal representation, we remain committed to doing anything we can to support our students, faculty, and staff on this or any issue,” the email said.
For guidance on employee-based visa sponsorship, the email refers employees to Alison Cutler and Christene Cooper in the human resources department. For guidance on student visa sponsorship, the email recommends students visit the Center for International Students and Scholars website or email International@uconn.edu for more information.
More than 300 visas have been revoked this year, according to an estimate by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a press conference on March 27.
“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” said Rubio, referring to people who took part in pro-Palestinian activism.
In another interview with press the next day, Rubio said most of the revoked visas were students. He then clarified shortly after that he was unsure about the ratio of student visas to non-student visas.
“I don’t know actually if it’s primarily student visas. It’s a combination of visas. They’re visitors to the country,” said Rubio. “If they’re taking activities that are counter to our foreign—to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa.”