UFlorida 'Undocupeers' training: People can 'come out' as illegal aliens

The University of Florida has hosted several sensitivity trainings, suggesting that students can “come out” as illegal aliens and that illegal aliens can apply to the school as international students.

Titled “Undocupeers,” the trainings aim to “educate the UF community on the history, policies, and current challenges impacting students with vulnerable immigration status.” 

Campus Reform attended a portion of the final training of the 2019 spring semester and obtained an agenda and definition sheet. 

Story continues after the images

The definition sheet includes several general and legal terms regarding immigration, but also terms like “Coming Out” and “UndocuQueer” to describe illegal immigrant students who share their status and illegal immigrant students who also happen to be members of the LGBT community, respectively. 

The document also describes “illegal” as a “dehumanizing term” and a “slur” against illegal aliens.

A notable moment in the training came when Diana Moreno, UF’s assistant director for multicultural and diversity affairs, claimed that many illegal immigrant applicants falsely claim to be international students when applying to UF.

“A lot of our students who don’t have a Social Security number might apply as international students, but then, you know, if they’re eligible for that out-of-state tuition waiver [they can get it later in the process].”

[RELATED: Not here legally? UMN has a scholarship for that]

An increasing international student population leads to increased competition for American students for limited available spots at colleges and universities, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Colleges and universities also have a financial incentive to accept international students because they pay out-of-state tuition. 

Campus Reform reached out to UF for comment on this story and asked UF if illegal immigrants who falsely apply as international students and later use out-of-state tuition waivers were committing fraud, but received no response in time for publication. 

Turning Point USA at UF President Ashley Stultz told Campus Reform that UF was rewarding students who break federal law by allowing them to attend the university illegally. 

“UF is not only assisting in the breaking of federal law but also rewarding students who are,” Stultz said. “It makes sense that illegal immigrant students feel a sense of discomfort since they are pushing back against the laws set in place.” 

Stultz also lamented the theme presented in Undocupeers that illegal immigrants are unique in their struggles as students. 

“[Illegal immigrant students] aren’t the only ones who struggle while attending UF,” she told Campus Reform. “The fact of the matter is almost all students face obstacles during their time at UF, but the difference is illegal immigrant students are the architects of their own downfall by choosing to attend UF without gaining legal status and making falsehoods on their applications. Illegal immigrant students aren’t being forced to attend UF, and UF shouldn’t be using resources to compensate for these students’ unfavorable choice to do so.”

The Undocupeers training was created by United We Dream, a George Soros-funded 501c(3) immigration advocacy group that claims it is the largest youth-led immigrant group in the nation. United We Dream has been responsible for the heckling of several Republican politicians, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). 

[RELATED: Immigration experts: In-state tuition for illegal aliens violates Clinton-era federal law]

Last year, United We Dream created an app to help illegal immigrants avoid law enforcement. The app, called Notifica, the Spanish word for “notify,” allows illegal immigrants to notify family members, lawyers, and other illegal immigrants when they encounter law enforcement. Illegal immigrants can also warn when law enforcement is in a particular neighborhood.

During the Bush and Obama administrations, United We Dream’s parent organization, the National Immigration Law Center, received at least $206,453 in taxpayer funds from the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, according to The Daily Signal.

United We Dream also raises money through ActBlue, a non-profit fundraising tool for Democrat and Democrat-led initiatives. When using ActBlue, donors can give money to one of the following areas: Mijente, a group that describes itself as “pro-Latinx...proudly pro-Black, pro-woman, pro-queer, and pro-poor,” United We Dream Action (the group’s political arm), Cosecha, and the UndocuBlack Network, which claims to “‘Blackify’ the undocumented immigrant narrative in the U.S. and facilitate access to resources for the Black undocumented community.”

The most recent public filings from United We Dream show that, in 2016, the group raised $3.2 million. United We Dream Action brought in $933,697.

The UF version of Undocupeers was modified by Chispas, a UF immigrant advocacy club. 

Earlier in 2019, Chispas protested Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence on campus for a career fair and accused the agency of acting as a “perpetrator of racial profiling,” “harassment,” violence, and being a symbol of “systematic oppression that terrorizes the immigrant community.” Chispas has also called for ICE to be abolished. 

[RELATED: Harvard ‘UndocuGraduation’ for illegal immigrants features previously arrested prof]

Other schools that currently host or have hosted UndocuPeers trainings include Georgetown University, University of Arizona, the University of Colorado Denver, Wake Forest University, the Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of California Merced, Western Connecticut State University, and the University of Connecticut. 

Campus Reform also reached out to the Center for Immigration Studies for comment but received no response in time for publication.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @eduneret