The War Against Youths
How Trump’s policies might affect students
Sydney Jackson
Despite only being in office for a brief amount of time, recently elected president Donald Trump has made quite vigorous claims and legal implementations that will strongly impact Americans, including students at the University of Minnesota.
Freezing Federal Funding
In late January, the Trump administration announced they were going to halt federal grants and loans, meaning that any organization or service relying on federal funding or assistance would not receive the funds. The Trump administration's reasoning for this was to prevent federal funding for “woke ideologies,” “green new scam [deal],” or “transgenderism,” as stated by Donald Trump’s press secretary under the guise of helping “American taxpayers.” This can be seen as an attack on the livelihoods of marginalized people and environmental issues. However, at the time of writing this, it is unknown which organizations and services for certain will be targeted, meaning that any federal funding is under threat and attack, including funding for education, like FAFSA. This directly affects students everywhere, including students here at the University.
Across the country, students that attend college or university rely on federal loans and grants in order to afford tuition and other educational costs, which makes FAFSA and other ways of federal funding required for students to attend university. In an email sent by the University of Minnesota to all students, reassurance was given to students that, “there is no impact to Pell grants or direct loans,” and that they are working with policymakers, “leaders across the University” and their “peer institutions and professional associations.” To give further ease, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ( District of Columbia) has blocked this effort of the Trump administration to halt federal grants.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Immigration, and Citizenship
Trump's tirade on immigrants has been apparent since his first campaign for presidency, as he called Mexican immigrants who illegally crossed the border “criminals.”. Since being re-elected, Trump has implemented executive orders to come down harder on immigrants who have illegally entered the country, as well as their children, using ICE. Previous administrations, like Biden’s, restricted ICE , forbidding their entrance into schools and churches. However, Trump has cruelly removed this protection—since then, immigrants—even documented ones—have been unfairly targeted by ICE under the guise of kicking out criminals who “hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.” All this is despite the amount of immigrants coming to America who commit low amounts of crime. The National Bureau of Economic Research states that undocumented immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated in relation to U.S. born citizens. This shows that if they aren't getting arrested, they are not committing as many crimes. Due to this executive order, university students, including at the U, will not face protection from ICE detaining them. The University has released statements in compliance with Trump's orders while providing assistance with dealing with ICE officers.
Unfortunately, this is not Trump's only attack on undocumented immigrants. He also plans on attacking their children who were born in the United States. Despite it being a constitutional right, Trump is aiming to end birthright citizenship, potentially classifying some of the U’s students as undocumented, perhaps leading to deportation of them.
Transgender Youths
As previously stated, Trump does not support the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender people. Since his reinstatement into the White House, the Trump administration has repeatedly targeted the removal of acknowledgement of transgender people, especially in the government. The White House made a statement in late January that they would only recognize two genders —the “biological” sexes.. As reflected in new or updated passports, the “X” option for genders is now unavailable, with the remaining options being male or female. The government, under the Trump administration, is also defunding gender-affirming care for transgender youth, which they declare as anyone under 19. For transgender students, this can be harmful to their livelihood.This goes beyond physical harm, but mentally harm as well to know that the president of one of the most influential nations in the world does not support them, and does not even acknowledge them.
It is extremely important that students make sure to stay informed about the Trump administration's implementations of policies to our country and how it can affect our nation. Make sure to read and listen to the news as much as you can and to understand.