The Daily Wildcat • B5
100 Days of Trump • Wednesday, May 3, 2017
DACA
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students and a grad assistant and primarily focuses on two functions: providing resources to students and training to faculty and staff. Mira Patel, who serves as a College Navigator, indicated that the center has served its community well. “Before, I had never really met anyone who was [either] undocumented or documented, which made me feel more isolated,” she said. “So I think having a place like this has been very helpful.” According to Mira Patel, at least half of the 70 DACA students on campus have visited to facilitate its resources. The biggest fear that many DACA students have is that of family separation subsequent to their parents getting deported. “With the raids going on, you never know if you’re going to go home to your parents, if they’re going to be there or not,” Mata said.” Or if they leave the house and they get stopped or pulled over or detained or deported, that’s what scares me.” If someone is arrested by ICE, the Tucson community of immigrants and allies will rally to get them free, sending letters and calling the ICE to let them know that they are not criminals, they have U.S. citizen children, they work, they contribute and pay taxes, according to Mata. This alliance and unity among the community is a positive consequence Laura sees as a result of the Trump administration. “[The new administration] was a wake-up call, a cold wake-up call, but it’s definitely there and it’s caused a lot of movement,” Mendoza said. “It’s shown an uprising of resistance, not being submissive and not conforming to what they’re doing.” There is a lot of confusion surrounding the future of DACA under the Trump administration. “Even though he says DACA will not be affected, I feel like there’s always that possibility,” Mira Patel said. “Also, even if it’s not revoked, what does that mean for my family, or if there’s nothing beyond DACA, how do I progress in this country?” Mendoza agrees. “[It’s] almost like a limbo,” she said. “You’re not in a position where DACA is revoked and your status is now undocumented, but then again you don’t know if it’s truly going to stay or if the next day it’s going to be eliminated.” That limbo idea is perpetuated by the April 18 deportation of Juan Manuel Montes, a young man who was sent back to Mexico even though he should have been protected by DACA, which would make his the first case of its kind. “It’s just something I’ve seen happening with this new administration, how they’ve just... instead of actually helping and taking steps, their only solution is to deport,” Laura said. Patel said she does not regret being a DACA student because it’s helped her become all of who she is now and has strengthened her sense of identity— one that would be totally different if she weren’t. She said she’s more informed on pertinent issues and is proud of being born in Mexico. To Mata, her origin shouldn’t be the issue, it’s the rhetoric and dialogue. “I don’t think a number and some documents should determine if I can stay here,” Mata said. “You’re allowed to have your human rights, your social rights. A paper and a number, to me, doesn’t mean anything.”
JESSICA GONZALES/TUCSON ARTS BRIGADE
“LET THE LIGHT IN” mural on the side of Wig-O-Rama, located on Congress Street. The mural was done by Jessica Gonzales. There are a variety of murals in the downtown area, some of which are part of the Tucson Mural Arts Program.
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organizations in the region, like the Tucson Arts Brigade and The Rogue Theatre. The group would be immediately affected by the NEA cut, as it receives public funding support to then reroute to the region. According to Julie Lauterbach-Colby, deputy director the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, the NEA has funded almost $5 million into nonprofit art organizations in Tucson over the past two decades. Lauterbach-Colby said that because each dollar the NEA provides helps leverage another $7 from the community itself, the arts provide close to $35 million in local money. “I would say that the arts are important in a community because they serve as the very spirit of what that community is—how it moves, how it thinks, how it grows and breathes and sees itself within the larger context of what makes it special,” Lauterbach-Colby said. “The arts give a community a very personal and intrinsic understanding of what it means to be a community.” Some well-known sights in Tucson are the murals downtown. The Tucson Arts Brigade is one source of these murals and other projects in the area and is one local nonprofit that has been inspired to act by the proposal to defund the NEA. According to Michael Schwartz, Tucson Arts Brigade president and muralist, the Tucson Arts Brigade receives private donations to fund its projects, and the organization’s funding would not be directly affected by the defunding of the NEA. Schwartz said the attitude toward artists is what is troubling to their organization. The Tucson Arts Brigade has often done projects meant to beautify the space, but now there are plans to take a more political approach. The Tucson Mural Arts Program has summer plans to create murals about Standing Rock and tribal rights. Some of their future projects include messages about domestic violence, rape culture and the border. Schwartz said the Tucson Arts Brigade’s donations are
notably up from last year. There is overwhelming support in the community for the new projects. “It’s kind of a metaphor for what is happening around the country,” Schwartz said. “You’re seeing house to house, neighbor to neighbor linking and organizing throughout nation, and we’re going to reclaim our democracy. It’s wild and beautiful. People are in total solidarity. I’ve never seen this in my life. In some ways this could be the best thing that ever happened to the arts.” The Rogue Theatre has been a cornerstone of art and culture in the Tucson community for the last 12 years. According to Cynthia Meier, The Rogue’s managing and associate artistic director, the theater would also be affected by the elimination of the NEA, as it receives funding from the Arts Foundation of Tucson and Southern Arizona and the Arizona Commission on the Arts, another agency that provides funds for arts organizations in the state. Though there has been a small increase of support from private donors in response to the budget proposal, it is not enough to sustain an organization like The Rogue in the long run. The Rogue often raises important questions with its productions. Past seasons have included productions of “Angels in America” and other pieces of drama that are thought-provoking, controversial and emotional. “At The Rogue, we end every performance with a discussion about the play we all just experienced,” Meier said. “People are introduced to new ideas and new ways of thinking about things. They sometimes argue with one another about human nature and circumstances. In an age when most of us live in our own information bubbles, these live community conversations are more valuable than ever.” Meier encourages all citizens to recognize that the arts are essential to every aspect of community life, from economic success to the very life and breath of the community. “Art—the making of art, the encouragement of art— endures,” Meier said in a recent newsletter. “Our goal at The Rogue is, and always has been, to create a theater that makes us all think deeply about the human spirit, so that we might ultimately become better community-members, better citizens, better people.”
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become leaders in their community and 59.2 percent expressed it was “very important” or “essential” to improve their knowledge of other cultures. The data shows that minority groups have placed importance on promoting racial understanding and influencing social values, 52.7 percent of Latino students and 63.8 percent of African American students. This trend has only expanded since President Trump’s recent travel ban, which was received with harsh criticisms over its unfair prejudices towards certain racial and religious groups. Erica Cook, a sophomore majoring in anthropology, has been interested in politics since high school. She said she has noticed that many students on campus are getting more involved in politics because of the recent elections, especially because they sometimes feel like they don’t have a say. “I think that people are going to start to realize how democracy works and that subsidiarity is the way,” Cook said. Through the use of social media, movements such as #NotMyPresident and the Women’s March on Washington have grown to astonishing numbers. These types of movements are in direct response to President Trump’s revocation of federal transgender bathrooms guidelines in schools, his attitude toward women, etc. In the Journal of Media Literacy Education’s 2016 study of “Political Engagement During a Presidential Election Year,” a 20-question online survey was distributed to about 200 college students in media literacy courses. The research suggests that news coverage through social media plays an important role in the decision of voters. The study investigated how these students were getting their information about the presidential candidates and 95 percent of the sample said they used social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to track a large amount of their news. Also, a majority in the study claimed to take action in their communities primarily through the use of social
WILDLIFE
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“layup spots” that are only accessible by primitive roads. In these spots, border crossers will discard all of their used items from their trip over the border and dress in street clothes to attempt to blend in, in case they are stopped at any checkpoints. “That can result in as much as 10 tons of trash in any given location over a period of years,” Hart said. “We’re talking everything from backpacks, water bottles,
DANIEL PRESSMAN/YOUNG DEMOCRATS CLUB
YOUNG DEMOCRATS MEMBERS POSE with Tom Perez at the Tom Perez/Bernie Sanders political rally in Mesa, Arizona on April 21, 2016. A photo of the Young Republicans was unavailable.
media networking. These actions included writing or signing a petition, starting or joining a Facebook group for a particular political cause, encouraging others to vote, displaying a political sticker or sign and or contacting an elected representative at various levels of government. In a Pew Research Center survey, new trends were discovered regarding this generation’s popular opinion, one being that “millennials have fewer
deodorant, toothpaste, clothing, shoes. Everything.” According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s official website, it has been estimated that over 2,000 tons of trash are discarded annually in Arizona’s borderlands. Currently, the ADEQ have partnered with other local and state departments and led efforts to try and clean up the thousands of tons of trash left throughout the southern Arizona desert, but the work is slow going. Layup spots are often secluded and can
attachments to traditional political and religious institutions, but they connect to personalized networks of friends, colleagues and affinity groups through social and digital media.” In the midst of a disconnection between the government and the public, a spirited generation with rising voices will put President Trump to the ultimate test in search for a satisfying balance of policies for all Americans to live by.
be found over vast distances. They range for nearly a hundred miles from just over the border, up through Pima County and the Ironwood National Monument, all the way into southern Maricopa county. If President Trump’s border wall is built, there is potential for widespread ecological damage to the borderlands environment. However, if nothing is done to control the flow of illegal immigrants, the same environment will continue to have thousands of tons of trash dumped into it every year.
Due to the partisan political climate and the fact that illegal immigration remains a contentious national issue, passing any legislation to try and solve the problem one way or another is going to be a long and arduous process. Whether from the U.S. government’s actions to stop the flow of illegal immigrants or to somehow limit the environmental impacts of illegal immigrants themselves, it seems wildlife in the US-Mexico borderlands will continue to suffer.