(ALBANY, NEW YORK) – Fred Kowal, President of United University Professions (UUP) - America’s largest Higher Education Union, has released a statement on the Trump Administration’s targeting of students and academia in its deportation campaign.

UUP stands in direct opposition to the Trump Administration’s continued targeting of non-citizens in academia, all of whom were legally residing in the U.S. at the time they were picked up by ICE Agents, in many cases under murky circumstances.

According to several mainstream news outlets, as many as 300 international students have been detained by ICE over Pro-Palestinian campus protests or actions - including Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University and a member of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509.

Since February, at least two academics have been detained by ICE, including SEIU Local 925 Member Lewelyn Dixon, a University of Washington Lab Technician.

One academic has been deported and another has fled the country to avoid detention after ICE came to her home searching for her. 

UUP President Kowal released the following statement:

UUP Members, like the majority of Americans, support the removal and deportation of dangerous, violent non-documented Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally and who pose a threat to society and the security of our Democracy.

However, there are constitutional and legal processes that must be followed, and they include the right to due process - which, according to the Constitution, extends to anyone on U.S. soil, including Undocumented Immigrants and even those who illegally entered our country.

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments spell out those Due Process Rights.

Trump has not just ignored these Constitutional and legal processes, he has flouted and trampled over them.

The President has allowed and encouraged ICE Agents - who do their work without identification on their clothing or vehicles - to literally spirit their suspects off the streets and into detention camps thousands of miles of away from where they were apprehended.

As Americans and as Unionists, we demand that the rule of law be followed.

We demand that due process be given to Americans and everyone in America.

We demand the Trump Administration admit the Constitution is the Nation’s fundamental law and the supreme law of the land - and as such, must be followed by all, including the President.

UUP represents more than 42,000 Academic and Professional Faculty and Retirees, many who work at 29 New York State-operated Campuses, including State University of New York’s (SUNY) Public Teaching Hospitals and Health Science Centers in Brooklyn, Long Island and Syracuse.

UUP is an affiliate of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA) and the AFL-CIO.