New School Professor of Politics and Global Studies Alexandra Délano Alonso is facilitating  Know Your Rights Training (KYR) events at The New School, and held the first one this semester on February 13. 

The purpose of these events is to educate the TNS community on what they should do if they were ever to be in a situation where they were confronted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The events are open to all students, staff, and faculty. 

The training last Thursday was in partnership with the Sanctuary Working Group at The New School and presented by Alonso and Assistant Professor Jackie Vimo at the Department of Political Science and Law at Montclair State University. Alonso also partnered with Dr. César Barros, a migrant organizer, and Director of the Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies Program at SUNY New Paltz. 

Alonso says these KYR trainings are essential for anyone to go to. For her, everyone, despite their relationship to the topic, should know how to protect their community. “I really hope that everyone that comes to these trainings feels that they can be a trainer and that they can take this information wherever they go,” Alonso said. Alonso is currently advocating for the KYR training to be made mandatory for all security guards and resident assistants. 

Alonso has been attempting to get the university more involved with her KYR initiatives for 8 years but says the university has been hesitant in the past. After discussing it with the university once again this semester, she said they have been nothing but supportive, allowing her to have meetings with the President’s Office, and beginning to fund the KYR events. 

Alonso said she believes that what flipped the switch for the university was the Trump administration’s attacks on visa holders regardless of their status. “It’s a much broader attack against any noncitizen green card holders … people with visas, all kinds of visas, not just student visas … Obviously, it’s not just the attacks around detention and deportation… [there is a] much more expansive reach that requires a more organized response or urgent response,” Alonso said. 

Alonso said currently, she is the only faculty member involved in these conversations with the President’s office, which made a group to tackle threats from the Trump administration. “[We meet] regularly to discuss the different policies and executive orders and how to respond to them,” Alonso said. “I am bringing ideas and proposals to them, including the Know Your Rights training.”

Another initiative Alonso has tried to push is the designation of TNS as an official “sanctuary campus” — meaning the university would be committed to protecting undocumented and migrant students. The university currently admits students regardless of their documentation status. According to Alonso, they currently are adopting three main principles of sanctuary: protecting individuals’ information, not allowing ICE on campus, and making commitments for protection.

Alonso said that the current administration is putting a new set of hurdles on immigration issues, such as the risk of practicing free speech. During the presentation, the group discussed the Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk. Ozturk was recently detained by ICE due to her involvement in co-authoring an op-ed calling for Tufts to cut ties with Israel. “The fact that we have to talk about free speech is incredibly concerning to me, that that was something that I took for granted before,” Alonso said. 

Alonso said that the university has assured her that they will continue to protect the records of international students who partook in the Gaza Solidarity Encampments in Spring 2024. “If the records are subpoenaed … they’ll evaluate at that point, but for now … that information is protected,” Alonso said.
The New School will continue to hold Know Your Rights training to further educate the community, the next one is occurring on Thursday April 24th at 65 West 11th Street, Wollman Hall (room B500) from 2:30pm – 4:30pm.