The letter emerges from the broader campaign by Local 1104 and District 1 to fight back against the chilling of international workers’ speech. As outlined in the petition, sanctuary must be more than an empty rhetorical term, or an informal practice, or an internal guidance; it must be publicly stated, enforceable, and materially supported.
Fordham University leadership, in their response to our petition and organizing, has insisted that all of these protections are already substantially in place in all but name (“sanctuary”). FGSW and our CWA siblings welcome this claim insofar as it affirms proximity to the demands we put forth. At the same time, we insist that such claims be realized in practice and such practices be publicly documented: through clear, public commitments; enforceable policies; and the material protections required to ensure the safety of international, undocumented, and mixed-status members of our community.
If any University believes it is already doing what sanctuary requires, then it should have no hesitation in saying so clearly, no false claim of ignorance of the word. An integral element of leadership is matching practice with principle, to make those commitments explicit, and to say and enact the word: sanctuary.
Below, we publish the full text of the letter:
Dear Union Family,
I apologize that I cannot speak to you all in person, as current events have pushed me into anonymity. By current events, I mean the detention and deportation of international students.
But first, let me tell you what I can about myself. I came to this country six years ago to pursue a degree in higher education. Along with studying, I also worked as part of my degree, and the bulk of the work I did was teaching undergraduate classes.
When I arrived at my university, the conditions and the pay were almost unbearable. I was being paid $24,000 a year, my payments were often late, and the administration ignored our complaints and outreach to ask for the money we were owed.
When COVID broke out, we were expected to do even more work than before. Fordham graduate students had had enough. We began talking about the difficulties we were facing, and this group grew and grew until we organized with CWA. We won our union and became CWA Local 1104 members in April 2022.
Along the way, my life truly changed. Fighting alongside my union family gave me a sense of belonging to this country. My union comrades who were citizens fought for me and for all international students. Our bargaining committee always kept the needs of international students at the forefront as we were the most vulnerable students in our bargaining unit.
We won a lot for international students, including paid time off for visa and immigration proceedings, an emergency fund, and agreements to pay international workers on time. The wage raises we won were vital to international students as we are not allowed to work off campus and cannot earn extra money.
I’d like to repeat that fighting as a union gave me a strong sense of belonging to this country. Not only did our conditions and pay improve but we built strong relationships of solidarity.
I have been in this country for six years. I have built a life here, I fell in love with and married my husband here. I live a life of joy and purpose and I give back to the communities I belong to.
This life is now being threatened. International students like me have become afraid and anxious. Every day, we are afraid that there will be a knock on the door and we will be abducted and sent to a detention center for making a post on Instagram - or for no reason at all. There have even been incidents of international students who have not participated in any kind of protests or activism being abducted.
These detention centers have been described as concentration camps, and frequently, people who have been detained are sent to countries that are not their country of origin. These foreign detention centers are notorious for torture and detainees not being allowed to make any calls.
We are afraid to visit our families for fear that we will be detained or deported on our return to the country. It’s breaking my heart every day that I will not be able to see my mother or hug my nieces until I don’t know when.
In this time of incredible hardship and fear, I need my CWA family more than ever. I need you to vow to fight for me or any other CWA members if we are detained — we need you to show up wherever we are being held. We need you to come to our campuses if we call for actions or rallies to push our school administrations to protect us. We need you to remember to keep fighting for us and not forget about us as time passes by.
Please do not stop fighting for us.
Please do not forget about us.
We need you to join the fight against these cruel, horrible policies.
I write to you from a place of fear and distress, but writing to you gives me courage and bravery because I know that when we fight, we win.
– Anonymous Local 1104 Member
