UC Berkeley Defending Overstay Student: Update

Hat tip Daily Californian


As previously reported, Luis Mora is a Colombian national who is also a student at UC Berkeley. He has been detained by ICE as a visa overstay.

His case has stirred controversy at UCB with student groups demanding his release. The university itself is devoting resources to getting Mora released from custody. That is according to a statement by Carol Christ, the newly-installed chancellor.

http://www.dailycal.org/2018/01/09/chancellor-carol-christs-statement-detained-uc-berkeley-student-spurs-controversy/

"In the statement, Christ said the university is working to help release Mora and has no intention to back down from its “fundamental commitment to justice and equity.”

In an accompanying article, the DC reports that Mora has a bond hearing date for January 17.

I question why the university is involving itself in trying to get this young man released. As previously reported, he is a visa overstay. He is not a DACA student. What is the justice and equality issue here? Let's say this young man had been arrested for robbing a bank. Would the university be trying to secure his release? The University of California under Janet Napolitano, who, it needs to be repeated once again, was our secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama, has gone full bore in trying to shield its "undocumented " students from law enforcement. They are now establishing "Dreamer centers" on their campuses and giving advice to "undocumented students".  

This  university has no business wasting tax-payer funds in a now organized effort to obstruct justice. They are walking along a very thin line in my view.