LaGuardia Creates Hub for Immigrant Students

The Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids have left undocumented students and those from mixed-status families facing growing uncertainty about whether they can enroll in and complete college. As concerns about detention, deportation and federal enforcement mount, some institutions have entered agreements allowing campus police to assist immigration authorities, while others have discouraged efforts to establish sanctuary campuses.

LaGuardia Community College is taking a different approach. This week, the City University of New York institution celebrated the opening of its Office of Immigrant Student Empowerment, the first of its kind at a community college in the university system.

Since it began serving students in the spring, the office has connected immigrant and immigration-impacted students with legal resources, financial assistance, academic support and community-based services through partnerships with CUNY Citizenship Now!, the college’s student advocacy committee and other community organizations.

The office also connects students to scholarships, experiential learning stipends, emergency assistance and other supports through the Friedman Fund for new New Yorkers and LaGuardia CARES, with the aim of helping them overcome financial barriers, remain enrolled and pursue their educational goals.

Alexis McLean, vice president for student affairs at LaGuardia, said the college’s location in Queens, home to a large immigrant population, has made supporting immigrant and undocumented students a priority. She said college leaders recognized a growing reluctance among some students to attend classes in person, while others have requested online courses or prefer to communicate only through email.

“A lot of our undocumented students, particularly in this sociopolitical climate, became quite fearful of coming to school,” McLean said. “So it’s really important for us as we engage in this work to think about all the ways that an undocumented student is being impacted outside the classroom and have those things supplement what’s happening inside the classroom to ensure that they can thrive while they’re at the institution.”

Beyond the classroom: The office was established with support from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation amid a series of federal policy changes affecting immigrant and undocumented college students nationwide.

The Trump administration has challenged state policies allowing undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition, leaving some facing significantly higher costs and forcing others to reconsider their educational plans. As Inside Higher Ed previously reported, more than 120,000 undocumented college students have lost access to in-state tuition rates following federal lawsuits in five states, while hundreds of thousands more face uncertainty as similar policies are challenged elsewhere.

Concerns have also extended to immigration enforcement on college campuses. In February, federal agents entered a campus residential building at Columbia University and detained a student, prompting questions about how institutions can protect students and respond to enforcement actions. College leaders and immigrant student advocates have emphasized the importance of campus protocols and access to legal assistance.

Those concerns are also reflected in the needs of students seeking support at LaGuardia. Alex Perez-Meza, administrative coordinator in the office, said a student’s legal circumstances can affect their ability to remain enrolled and qualify for in-state tuition, making legal assistance one of the center’s most sought-after services.

“Everything is connected,” Perez-Meza said. “When we meet with students, I prioritize helping them understand their legal rights and legal abilities to receive certain statuses … that way we can start working towards creating a long-term pathway for them while they’re in college and potentially open up career doors for them.”

Among the more than 70 students the office has already served is Zoe, a psychology major from Jamaica who is being identified by her first name only. In a statement, she described how the office has helped her navigate the challenges of building a life and pursuing an education in a new country.

“College is about more than attending classes,” she said. “It’s about having a place where you are seen, supported and connected to resources that can alter the trajectory of your life. This office has become that place for me, and I hope it becomes a second home for many more students.”

LaGuardia has also become a hub for initiatives supporting historically underserved student populations. In June, CUNY announced the creation of the Institute for LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement and Public History, based at LaGuardia. The institute serves as a systemwide hub to support LGBTQ+ students, strengthen collaboration across campuses and build partnerships with community organizations.

Beyond connecting students with practical resources, Perez-Meza said the new office aims to foster a sense of belonging among students who may otherwise feel disconnected from campus life.

“We all yearn for community,” Perez-Meza said. “A lot of the students that I’ve met haven’t joined any sort of club or done anything on campus, and they’re just trying to find more confidence in themselves and more people that they can relate to.”

A broader responsibility: Perez-Meza said supporting immigrant and undocumented students requires collaboration across institutions rather than working in silos. That includes ensuring students, faculty and staff have access to accurate information about immigration policies and know how to connect students with appropriate resources.

“This is not just LaGuardia, this goes for other colleges,” Perez-Meza said. “People need to extend themselves and learn how to support and give the right information to students and also know that if you don’t have it, to share and refer them to someone that could provide more information.”

For other institutions considering how to support their immigrant and undocumented student populations, McLean emphasized the importance of being both fearless and strategic in their approach.

“We’re really careful about who has access to students’ information and how we’re putting ourselves out there—that’s the savviness,” McLean said. “But it goes hand in hand with the fearlessness, which is: you made an oath to serve all of the students who come through your doors, and you can’t let the current sociopolitical environment push you into backing down from that promise.”

“When you take care of students’ needs outside the classroom, they’re much more likely to persist, they’re much more likely to get to the finish line,” McLean said. “It is impossible for a student to get to the finish line if they’re overburdened with anxiety or depression or wondering if ICE is going to stop them on the way to campus.”

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