Student government at California university allocates $130,000 to help illegal immigrants

What's the story?

The student government association at San Diego State University in San Diego, allocated a one-time emergency funding of $130,000 this week to help any student who needs to renew their DACA status.

What is DACA?

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was a policy enacted by President Barack Obama in 2012 that allowed those who illegally entered the United States as minors to apply for a renewable two-year work permit that would prevent them from being deported, as long as they meet the other qualifications. Nearly 800,000 illegal immigrants were protected by the program until it was rescinded by President Donald Trump earlier this month.

While the White House announced that the federal government would not be processing any more new DACA applications, the government plan will allow anyone whose DACA status expires in the next six months to apply for renewal before an Oct. 5 deadline.

How will the emergency funding work?

Students who are eligible to renew their DACA status can go to the school's Economic Crisis Response Team website and confidentially submit a request for the school to pay the $495 renewal fee.

According to Campus Reform, vice president of the financial affairs committee for the student government association, D. Hayden Willis, said that the funds will not exceed $130,000 and could fund up to 262 student DACA renewals.

Have school officials backed the decision?

School officials have not publicly commented on the allocated funds, but SDSU's Interim President Sally F. Roush recently sent a letter to the White House prior to Trump's decision to rescind DACA.

"You have recently expressed your personal struggle over the difficulty of reaching a decision about retaining the DACA program. As you consider your decision, we urge you to give the greatest weight to the fact that these individuals who arrived in this country too young to have made the decision to come here, or to have understood any consequent impact on their citizenship have in fact excelled as students, and as good citizens,” Roush wrote at the time.

"We implore you to acknowledge these facts and urge you to retain the DACA program," she added.