Two members of the Boston University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom tabled in the lobby of the George Sherman Union April 29 with a sign labeled “DEPORTING ILLEGAL ALIENS IS GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY PROVE ME WRONG.”
Students crowded around the table, waiting for a turn to debate the two. Others stuck around to watch.
The tabling was spearheaded by YAF Secretary Colin Sharpe and YAF Leader Alpha Barry. Sharpe described YAF as a non-partisan, conservative organization with independent chapters across the country.
Sharpe, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said it was necessary for them to share their message with the public.
“I think it’s a message that needs to be said, especially with this idea of turning BU into a sanctuary campus,” he said.
A sanctuary campus implements policies to protect all students from excessive federal intervention, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, regardless of their immigration status.
Sharpe and Barry said they are against this initiative and instead support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.
“[Undocumented immigrants] should be deported humanely,” Sharpe said. “But, they should nonetheless be [deported].”
Referring to a recent instance of a 2-year-old U.S. citizen being deported, he added, “the blame’s ultimately on the family themselves.”
Junior Angela Choi said she was “in shock” passing the sign.
Choi said she spent years being classified as an “alien,” and is currently in the process of getting her citizenship.
“I’m really disappointed that I’m going to college with these people who are very harmful to my identity, where I come from and who I am,” she said.
Choi said she witnessed one of the two YAF members “put his hands” on a girl attempting to take the poster down. She said she informed a BU Police Department officer about the incident.
The BUPD officer said Sharpe and Barry went through the “proper channels” to reserve the table through the Student Activities Office and have a First Amendment right to freely express their opinion.
“You can say what you want as long as you’re not being disrespectful or threatening people,” the officer said. “That’s your First Amendment right. So, until it gets physical or extreme, there’s really not much I could do.”
Hannah Yilma, the vice president of finance elect for Student Government, said she learned about the poster after students had voiced their concerns to her.
“I wanted to come up to just kind of see what’s going on, [and] make sure I was there to de-escalate in case it started to get too riled up,” she said.
Yilma said the language used in the poster, like “illegal aliens” rather than “undocumented immigrants” and “prove me wrong” instead of “let’s talk about it,” was meant to “incite fear.”
“I think it’s destructive to our community to use this harmful language,” she said.
Sharpe defended his choice of words, arguing that undocumented immigrants are “illegal aliens” by definition.
“A lot of liberals would say that you are dehumanizing the person by saying that,” he said. “Of course, illegal aliens are people. However, they are by definition, illegal, and they are alien to this country because they are not citizens.”
Yilma said YAF did not intend to have productive conversations but to antagonize instead.
“I value having productive discussions on controversial topics,” she said. “I think at a prestigious university like this, that is what we’re here for as a key component of our education. This is not the way you go about it.”
