Two University of Arizona students facing criminal charges for protesting US border patrol officers said they have been “harassed” by the police, subject to violent threats and no longer feel safe going to class.
Melchor and Bustamante have received national attention and attacks from rightwing and anti-immigrant groups since an on-campus protest at a 19 March student club event where border patrol agents were giving a presentation. A group of protesters chanted outside the meeting, calling the agents “murderers”, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper.
“I’m feeling really unsafe and super depressed and anxious,” Bustamante said by phone on Thursday, noting that she is supposed to graduate next month and doesn’t know how the charges could affect her degree and future. “I’m just scared and worried.” “I was blindsided,” she said. “I just feel like I’m being criminalized for being a person of color … I’ve been afraid to go to classes.”Bustamante said police showed up at her mother’s home and called her father.
Border patrol has faced growing protests across the country surrounding Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, including the family separation crisis, the detention of children, deaths of migrants and alleged sexual assaults by agents. Del Cueto said on air that if students on campus were worried about the presence of border patrol, “send me the names of the actual illegal aliens at the school and their addresses and I will be glad, on behalf of the border patrol union, to send any type of information when agents are going to be at their school”, prompting a laugh from the host.
Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: YahooNews - 🏆 380. / 59 Read more »
Source: washingtonpost - 🏆 95. / 72 Read more »
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »