The student government at the University of California Berkeley unanimously passed a resolution that allocates $1,500 to the migrant caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana.
According to the resolution, “In Support of Central American Refugees in their Pursuit of Asylum,” the allocated $1,500 will come from commercial revenues and will be distributed to a student organization, Central Americans for Empowerment, which will donate the allocation to the non-profit Freedom for Immigrants to help the caravan.
The resolution also tasked the student government’s Office of the External Affairs vice president with “phone-banking and lobbying in support of both emergency and comprehensive immigration reform as part of their national advocacy agenda.”
In the resolution, the sponsor and co-sponsors claim that the migrant crisis is the fault of the U.S. government because foreign policy “fueled by corporate greed” has “strategically intervened in Central American politics and warfare; thus strengthening the U.S. economy and further disregarding the livelihood of citizens in these countries.”
“[S]ince 2009 the U.S. government has given Honduras two hundred million dollars in police and military aid intended to help lower the migration rates from Honduras to the United States,” the resolution says. “[D]ue to inadequate intervention on the United States’ behalf, the Honduran government has abused and misused money intended to aid the Honduran people consequently making Honduras one of the most dangerous countries with the highest murder rate in the world.”
A student associated with the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) and familiar with the process told The Daily Wire that there “are three different sections for new bills to get sent to,” but typically new bills get classified as “New Business” and get sent to a committee until the next meeting.
“Senator Nick Araujo, rather than putting it into ‘New Business,’ put it into ‘Immediate Consideration,’ and some senators were upset about that because they thought it needed to go to ‘New Business’ before being considered to be passed,” said the student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “What Araujo was doing was putting it into the agenda to be immediately considered before it would go to the committee or be given to the public. Six senators thought it should go to the committee, and 14 said that it should go to ‘Immediate Consideration.’”
Before voting on the resolution, several students voiced why they support the resolution, but some used harsh rhetoric to pressure their peers into voting for the resolution in the four-hour meeting.
“Y’all are being really f****** ridiculous having us be up here,” one student said. “I now have had to have the same f****** conversation that is being ignored at the federal level. I’m honestly like— I would of thought people who claim to be— like say they’re our representation— I would’ve thought y’all have the audacity to like pass this f****** bill but of course y’all prove time and time again that y’all don’t give a f**** about students of color.”
According to Campus Reform, other students called the debate over allocating money “damn petty,” told their fellow senators to “get your sh**” together, and that voting no would be “ignorant and violent.”
Tijuana is currently spending around $35,000 a day on the caravan according to authorities, The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti reported. Additionally, MSNBC reports that many migrants feel misled and claim that they were promised crossing the border would be easy and that they would be eligible for work programs in the United States. Now the Mexican government is reportedly helping migrants return back to Honduras and Guatemala.