S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on this episode of KPBS Midday Edition. A Haitian City College student remains in Ice custody after being denied bond. What we know about the student and how the City College district is responding after Ice showed up on campus. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Two weeks ago , Renato Cassius was arrested by Ice agents on his way to San Diego City College , where he's a student. On Friday , Renato faced his first bond hearing at the Otay Mesa Detention Center , but was denied bail. The local campus community has rallied around him , but many students , faculty and staff are left feeling anxious about immigration enforcement on their campuses. I'm joined now by Gregory Smith. He's chancellor of the San Diego Community College District , which includes City College , Mesa , Miramar , and the San Diego College of Continuing Education. Chancellor Smith , welcome.
S2: Thank you. Good afternoon.
S1: Good afternoon to you. I'm glad you're here. It's been two weeks since Renato arrest. How has the district been responding since this incident?
S2: It's been a deeply unsettling time for our district. We did a lot of planning around the possibility of immigration enforcement affecting our students , our employees , and our campuses. And we've learned a lot from this moment. There have been considerable efforts to support Renato and his family. We've had a student , excuse me , one of our employees who speaks Haitian Creole , that's been able to provide translating services for them. We've connected them to a number of resources in our community , and that we offer we've been able to fundraise to cover legal expenses for rent defense. We've been able to provide help with transportation , food , and other things that the family needs in this moment , because Renato was doing much of that. We've had a lot of work internally to review the incident , what happened , what we can do to better our response to these moments , to hopefully prevent another incident like this happening , and to provide a lot of time and space and resource for people to process the trauma that they experienced , either directly as they witnessed ISIS engagement near our campus , or have experienced as a member of the community where someone that we value , that we care about was forcibly taken and that has significant impact on people. And so we've been trying to support everyone as much as we can with managing that , processing that , and being able to continue to meet the needs of all of our students as they continue their education.
S1: Do you have any sense of how Renato is holding up in Ice custody?
S2: We have been able to have both President Ricky Shabazz of City College. Some of our employees have been able to go down and speak with or not an attorney to actually see him directly. The reports that I've heard , as he is doing as well as anyone could do , given the circumstances of what has happened. But obviously this has been deeply concerning for him and a lot of anxiety about what his immediate future is going to be.
S1: And you talked about the trauma of all this. How has it been impacting the campus community?
S2: Yeah , so many people are very concerned about the way that this happened. Multiple unmarked vehicles , SUVs suddenly stopping traffic in a car on 16th Street and C Street , a very busy intersection at a time where classes were getting out and classes were about to start. There was a lot of traffic in that area. Seeing an Ice agent begin to come up onto our campus and to the Arts and Humanities building. Fortunately , that person stopped. I've heard reports that one or more employees or students may have told them , this is a college campus. You're not allowed to be here. But regardless , I was glad to hear that they had stopped and went back with the people who directly saw that , who have seen the footages that were the footage that was taken by people recording on their cell phones that observed the incident , who heard Firsthand from other people who saw it has created a lot of fear. Unfortunately , we've had several students that have been enrolled and stopped coming to class from our Haitian Creole community out of fear that they may be targeted by Ice trying to come to school. We've had many people who just witnessing an incident like that and seeing it so directly , this has made it real in a way that just seeing footage on television of incidents in other parts of the country can't , and it leaves them feeling unsettled and that armed agents could come after them for any reason or for no reason at all. And so it's just created a lot of fear and anxiety that we now have to help people to be able to work through , to be able to confidently come to class , be able to confidently come to work and continue to deliver on our mission to serve all of our students with an equitable form of higher education , in a system where they may not have an alternative because they can't afford to go to a four year university , or they're not ready to go to a four year college or university. So being able to maintain the focus on our mission has been challenged by this moment. It's also been a time where many people have come together in community , and they have built stronger bonds together as they have worked to use their free speech and voice.
S1: Let me ask you this question when when Ice was near campus and on campus , how did how did campus police respond to that? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So it was an interesting warm morning. We had San Diego Police Department at about 9:24 a.m. , initiated a stop of a suspected stolen vehicle on 15th Street on the other side of our math and science building. That incident lasted for about four minutes , but our police heard that on the radio and came to find out what was happening. And so one of our officers came to the scene , saw that CPD had started to block the street at 15th Street. We had the entrance to a parking garage there. So he started to manage traffic control and routing people to the other side on 16th Street , where they could enter the garage. As RPD left the area , he went back to his car and then saw the Ice agent who had gone up the stairs in our Arts and Humanities building. He came over to see what was happening , saw two unmarked vehicles , approached the scene with their lights on. Came around the corner and actually witnessed ice arresting and putting Renato into their car. He then went into traffic control around that and making sure that nobody else in the community who was either driving in that area or who was a pedestrian in that area , was impacted that there were no physical altercations. We've seen awfully lethal violence , so we wanted to make sure that didn't.
S1: So listen. To be clear , what does current district policy say about collaboration with federal immigration enforcement?
S2: Explicitly denies it. No member of our district is allowed to engage with federal law enforcement officials , except for me and our general counsel. We would be the only ones who could review any legal jurisdiction. They have to be here and could grant them access to any of our facilities , records or information or people. So not even our police are allowed to grant that access. They need to tell them that they can't and immediately redirect them to contact me or our general counsel.
S1: What steps is the district taking to ensure no more students are arrested by Ice?
S2: Well , first , making people aware of what the severity of the impact is. I don't want anyone to think that because this happened on a city street and not actually a street we own or control , that somehow it doesn't affect us. It certainly does. We'll be putting up signage that tells immigration enforcement and other federal law enforcement officials about our policy , and whether or not they're allowed to be there , and explicitly telling them they're not allowed to be without direct consent from me or our general counsel , in hopes that that will deter them from trying to do a stop like this near our campuses. Being able to engage with all of our regional law enforcement agencies to understand the impacts of law enforcement on and around our campus , being able to empower our employees and students with connections to resources in the community and within our colleges that can help them to respond to any incidents like this in the future , and of course , the mental health resources to be able to process through an engagement like this and remain healthy.
S1: You know , some students said that City College administration failed to take their concerns about Ice enforcement seriously up until this point. How how do you respond to that?
S2: I certainly don't think that we have failed to take it seriously. I think we have done as much as we could anticipate. You're always left in these moments feeling like there was more to be done. There was more that we could have anticipated. I feel like we did a lot. There are definitely things we can do better. So , for example , we had several moments of delay figuring out the best way to put out information that there was an immigration action happening , and that created a delay in getting that message out , which ultimately done was through emails. So we have met to develop a different protocol using an emergency alert system that we can push out text messages to everybody within proximity of the cell tower where something is happening. And we can use that to let them know that ice is in the area , and then to let them know when ice is gone. So they know to avoid that area and avoid any potential , any potential interaction with them. So there are things like that that we are learning from , but I think we did a lot to be prepared for this moment. And ultimately what I see is one individual unfortunately was detained and that is tragic. And that is a significant impact on us. But nobody else was impacted directly. No one was hurt. One student was able to get away from that engagement with Ice and they are free today. There was no physical violence. A lot of things that could have gone wrong didn't. And I think the planning was a big part of that.
S1: Um , you mentioned the other student , um , who got away from Ice. What is the college doing to support that student? How are they?
S2: Yeah , so I think that student is doing well , all things considered , we've been able to provide connection to a number of different resources that we offer. So far , we've been able to be responsive to everything the student has asked of us , and they continue to be able to come to class and they remain free to this day. So I think that has been a very good outcome in an otherwise very negative situation.
S1: You know. Reflecting on City College's response to this incident in real time , what do you think the the QCD could have done better?
S2: I think anticipating the way that an immigration action could happen given the unique landscape of City College , Mesa College and Miramar College , you know , most of the roads that are internal to the campus are owned and patrolled by the district , not the city , but city colleges woven into downtown San Diego. And so the city streets and the sidewalks are city property and not our district's property. We barred ice from coming onto our campus. We can take action as they cross that threshold , but we're now better prepared for an ice engagement that happens on the city streets that directly affects the campus , even though it isn't directly on our property , and being able to think through how we can again , send out a more timely alert to people that this is happening , how we can better have our police engage with motorists and pedestrians so that they remain safe , but without the perception that they are assisting Ice in what they are doing and having resources ready to deploy to help people process the aftermath of the event.
S1: Renato is a member of the Haitian community here in San Diego. Um , what is City College doing to support Haitian students who are now also being targeted here , who may have they may be in need of extra support as they process this.
S2: Yeah , that is one of the most significant aftermath pieces of this incident. So we're partnering with the Haitian Bridge Alliance through the work of several of our faculty and administrators at City College , to be able to understand how we can support the work that they do in the community , how we can connect them with individual community members , looking at how we can expand resources in our undocumented resource center While Renate was documented and would not have directly been participating in services there necessarily. There's a lot more we can do to expand the way our dreamer resource centers work to serve all of our immigrant students , those who have , and those who do not have current documentation status so that they have the support they need in the community for them to be able to show up to school and feel like they are safe and they're not going to be , you know , confronted with Ice enforcement or any type of legal entanglement doing so. I think creating that proactive connection to resources will help people feel like I can come and engage here. People care and they're thinking about me before I've even arrived.
S1: Earlier in the conversation , you mentioned Renato has a family that you all are helping to take care of. How are they doing?
S2: Extremely distressed and very fearful for what might come of this. You know. Is Renato going to come home? Is is you know , what they're worried about right now? And I'm grateful for our staff at City College that have been able to go out and directly engage with the family and provide them support and resources. But there's very little we can say that can diminish that anxiety and that fear. And we're hopeful of the outcome of , you know , the legal process here. But they face the very real possibility that he's not coming home.
S1: You know , some students and faculty are asking lawmakers to consider legislation that would create a safer space around campus. Is that something you're hearing about and looking into as well?
S2: It's something we've been actively engaged in since the moment that the executive order repealing the guidance on not having immigration enforcement at schools , hospitals , religious and other sensitive areas , so the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act going back to last year , every time we meet with our federal elected officials and the House of Representatives and the Senate , we have asked them to prioritize passage of that during the shutdown due to the lack of funding for Department of Homeland Security. We were advocating strongly that that be one of the things that Congress demanded in order to approve appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately , they found a way to go through that without actually having to pass their appropriations bill that came off the table. But this is all bringing the urgency of that legislation back. And I think it's important to recognize that going back to 1993 , Immigration and Naturalization Services operated under guidance to not do immigration enforcement at schools. In 2010. That became a policy of the department. They're able to enforce immigration law without coming in to schools , hospitals , religious institutions and other locations. This is a conscious choice , and seeing that , it's very hard to think that the desired impact is not the type of anxiety and fear and trauma that was causing this. It's completely unnecessary. And I think there should be bipartisan support for the idea that we have locations where we're not bringing that kind of terror into the community. We can have laws. We can enforce laws. This doesn't need to happen.
S1: I've been speaking with Gregory Smith. He is the Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District , which includes City College , City College , Mesa Miramar , and the San Diego College of Continuing Education. Chancellor Smith , thank you so very much.
S3: Thank you.
S1: And that's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
