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The Immigrant Justice Center creates equitable and accessible services, programs and opportunities to support the holistic and collective growth of individuals impacted by our immigration system.We envision a world where immigrants can thrive, be free, and gain economic power.

Values

Equity

As a center working with a historically excluded and marginalized student population, equity is the fuel that drives our community to advocate for opportunities to ensure students are creatively integrated in all aspects of student life.

Opportunity

Opportunity, then, becomes the priority when exploring ways to support students who cannot meet class requirements, participate in an internship, or simply receive federal financial support. Students' immigration status can become a burden when accessing health resources, professional development opportunities, or when traveling.

Creativity

Because of the legal implications students face, higher education institutions have a responsibility to be innovative and creative when designing programs that can support the academic, financial, professional, and personal growth of each student we work with.

Community

Working with undocumented and mixed-status students requires a strong community of allies, on- and off-campus, who can work together to support students and help the TDSC meet their various needs.

Name Change

We changed our name from the Toro Dreamers Success Center to the Immigrant Justice Center for the following reasons:
  1. The Dreamer narrative is outdated. The Dreamer narrative was a political strategy to help pass a federal reform that only benefited young immigrants in school or in the military. The narrative reinforced the criminalization of older immigrants creating a division between “good” immigrants vs. “bad” immigrants. In addition, the letter A in DREAMer stands for alien, and we do not want to continue reinforcing the xenophobia in this country. Our center is here to uplift both students and their families.
  2. The word Immigrant is more representative and inclusive of the population we serve. We have students, faculty, and staff who are systematically impacted by our immigration system, and we have seen an increase of people from mixed-status families benefiting from our services. We are also serving people who have adjusted or are in the process of adjusting their immigration status. These students are not “dreamers,” but they are immigrants who continue to face unique challenges and need our support.
The name change aligned more with our mission, vision, values, and goals as we want to achieve equity and justice for those impacted by our immigration system.