Trevecca’s immigrant community rattled by new executive orders

By Antonia Lopez, Michelle Loria Alvarado

Editor-in-Chief, Assistant Editor

Immigrant students report feeling worried after social media posts by other students; administration works to communicate all students belong on campus.

For the past several days Melissa Colorado Origua, director of inclusion and belonging for Trevecca’s student body, has sat across her desk from fellow students who are afraid.  

She’s not surprised at how busy she’s been meeting with students after recent announcements of plans for mass deportations from the federal government followed by social media posts by a Trevecca student about how to report undocumented students. 

“As an immigrant myself, I immediately recognized that this was going to send a lot of people into a lot of emotions and a lot of feelings of anxiety and pain and fear and concern for their safety and well being of themselves and their families,” said Colorado Origua.

Over the past week social media posts circulated among Trevecca students regarding some of President Donald Trump’s executive orders signed on Jan. 20 which addressed eliminating birthright citizenship and authorized mass deportations. 

For instance, a Trevecca student posted a flyer with a phone number to call to report illegal immigrants to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (also known as ICE) on a Snapchat community group for the Trevecca class of 2026. Several hundred students were able to view the post. Various Instagram accounts with posts about immigration and deportation were then created and then deleted by students. None of the social media accounts were official university accounts, though some of them had “tnu” in the handle. 

These posts and accounts made some students feel unsafe, said Colorado Origua.

Several students reported the posts and accounts to administrators and student development staff.

“The administration is actively aware and is actively having important conversations and it’s not that we’re not doing anything. There are definitely things happening,” said Justin Jose, director of leadership and community engagement.

Jose said he can’t comment on specific issues with specific students.  

“We understand and recognize that a lot of people might have been hurt by this. We want to be able to make sure we’re serving all those students well, and that we recognize that students, faculty and staff, have rights under the First Amendment,” he said.

Trevecca President Dan Boone said the university does not keep track of which students are citizens and which students are not.

During the enrollment process at Trevecca students are not asked to provide any type of legal documentation, which means that Trevecca does not have a count or record of students’ legal status.

“I don’t know who our undocumented students are. Our process for enrollment is a process for enrollment that doesn’t pay attention to that issue,” said Boone, “One of the values of Trevecca is that we do not serve someone dependent upon their citizenship. We serve all who come seeking an education and we want our enrollment process to be in keeping with that open policy that we have for education.”

Colorado Origua has been in multiple meetings with administrators speaking on behalf of immigrant students who feel worried. 

“It’s not really just the threat that was made and the stereotypes that will steam out of that threat and stream out of that harmful rhetoric, but is the feeling of  ‘I need to look over my shoulder to see who’s following me.’ It’s the feeling of, ‘I know this is a safe campus, this is a safe space, but just because it is a safe campus, it doesn’t mean that every person is a safe person,’” she said.

She said several students have told her they feel nervous about speaking up in class or identifying themselves in the wake of the executive orders and subsequent social media posts. 

Several students declined to be interviewed for this story based on their fear of being identified as undocumented. Some explained that while they have protection to be in the country for their education, they could endanger their families or their own protections could go away under future executive orders or laws. 

Boone said he understands that fear and has no authority to keep ICE, or any law enforcement agency, from coming on campus.

“If ICE burst into a classroom and starts demanding things, we cannot expel them because they are federal agents who have a right to go wherever they ever wanted to go, but we also are not required to divulge the information or anything that’s there,” he said.  

He said the Church of the Nazarene has training going on across the country for pastors about how to handle it.

“The chairman of our board of trustees was in training yesterday on this and is sending the information out,” he said. 

Both Boone and Jose said the message they want to reinforce to students is that they are welcomed and valued at Trevecca. 

“You’re in a community of employees and classmates that are glad that you are here and are your friend, and there may be a fraction of 1% here who want to do you harm. But, you’re in a community that 99% plus we’re thrilled that you’re here and are doing everything that we can do to keep you safe in the process of being here and help you finish your education,” said Boone.

Jose said his team is working to send the same message from student development.

“I think the biggest thing we’re trying to reinforce is we want to make sure that students know that Trevecca is a safe place. And we want students to know that they are part of Trevecca, and they belong, regardless of their status,” Jose said. 

Boone said he’s aware that several immigrants, besides students, are important members of the Trevecca community. 

“They work in our cafeteria. They worked on our campus. We have facility contracts with them. These are the people that I do business with all the time. These are my friends,” he said.

Boone said he is proud of the culture of welcome Trevecca has built.

“You would know that in a student body of 3,500 students and 500 employees, there are people who do not agree with one another about the presence of undocumented students in a university, but in all honesty, the number of people who have opposed our culture and our welcome would fit in a Volkswagen,” he said. “We have worked so doggone hard to create a culture of welcome in the middle of a pretty rough world.”