Amid attacks on student visas and increased ICE arrests in Missouri, junior Jaqueline Marquez Salgado founded Response in Action: Students for Immigrant Justice (RAISE), a new student-led organization at WashU “dedicated to uplifting immigrant voices,” according to its Instagram bio.

Marquez Salgado, the acting president of RAISE, said she was motivated to start an immigration justice club this semester after reading headlines about ICE arrests over the summer. 

“I just broke down in tears because I was feeling so much anxiety,” Marquez Salgado said. 

Marquez Salgado recruited sophomore Valentina Leon Vasquez and senior Ambar De Santos to help found RAISE. Vasquez and De Santos now serve as Vice President of Administration and Vice President of Outreach, respectively. 

Together, Marquez Salgado, De Santos, and Vasquez crafted the vision for RAISE with three main pillars: advocacy, education, and action. Following a general body meeting (GBMs) with over 40 attendees, the executive board is now establishing committees for members to pitch ideas and provide feedback in response to student interest in RAISE.

Vasquez was eager to join Marquez Salgado’s efforts to start an active discourse about immigration on campus. She said her own experiences immigrating to the United States from Lima, Peru, 10 years ago motivated her to advocate for immigrant justice starting in high school.

“At such a young age, I was exposed to the hardships of the immigration process,” Vasquez said. Vasquez was already volunteering for the St. Louis Rapid Response Line when the club began forming.

The hotline, organized by a coalition of immigrant service providers, attorneys, and organizations, tracks ICE activity and provides support to families of detainees. Once trained, volunteers take calls from St. Louis area residents impacted by ICE activity. Vasquez recalled that during her first shift, she spent four hours helping a woman locate a friend who was detained by ICE, an experience she described as “impactful” but also “heartbreaking.” 

“People share their story in a moment of vulnerability … it’s precious to be able to hear that,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez emphasized the impact WashU students can have by volunteering at the St. Louis Rapid Response Line, as staffing limitations sometimes cause the hotline to miss calls. By training students to volunteer for the hotline, RAISE aims to help eliminate missed calls. The group has already held four volunteer trainings for students. 

Simultaneously, Marquez Salgado described volunteering as “draining,” constantly hearing about the violence families are facing. 

“I’ve had family members who also have been through the same experiences, so feeling like sometimes I identify with their experiences is … difficult to navigate,” Marquez Salgado said.

RAISE plans to organize spaces for student volunteers to discuss and process experiences from the hotline and protect their own mental well-being. 

“We’re not just volunteers. We’re students first,” Marquez Salgado said. 

One of RAISE’s pillars is to educate students about immigration policy. Recently, RAISE hosted a GBM with Stephanie Shady, professor of the class “Introduction to Migration Policy and Politics” in the Department of Political Science.

“My training has equipped me with the skills and passion for education, so I try to use that platform to teach students how to analyze the immigration policy landscape,” Shady wrote in an email to Student Life. She also encouraged students to use their own skillsets to advocate for immigrant justice.

Shady said that while advocacy doesn’t always have tangible effects immediately, she believes it is still important in the long run, and encourages students to overcome the “efficacy barrier.”  

RAISE is working towards materializing its third and final pillar, advocacy. Vasquez noted that RAISE is seeking Student Union recognition to ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization and to gain access to funding to support advocacy work. 

Outside her position in RAISE, De Santos is part of efforts to unveil and tackle Missouri county jails’ contracts with ICE, creating a financial incentive to arrest and detain people. She said she hopes to eventually see more WashU students get involved with this kind of community-based work and stand in solidarity with the city’s diverse immigrant community. 

“A lot of people do not think of Missouri or St. Louis as places that are in need of justice,” De Santos said.

Senior Natalia León Díaz, Vice President of the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), emphasized ALAS’ commitment to uplifting RAISE’s work to support undocumented immigrants in St. Louis. 

“[RAISE’s founding members are] longstanding ALAS members and collaborators, so we are committed to collaborating to advance immigration justice,” León Díaz said.

León Díaz also highlighted the need to advocate for immigrant students on campus.

“We have yet to see any address or comment from higher WashU administration about the immigration crackdown, broader ‘know your rights’ communication to the entire community, or support for our immigrant students … this is but another instance in which WashU hides under the guise of ‘institutional neutrality’ to pander to the Trump administration,” she said. 

Governor Mike Kehoe recently authorized the National Guard to assist ICE in Missouri, sparking concern about heightened ICE activity. Vasquez said that this makes RAISE’s work more important now than ever. 

“It’s hard to tell what we can do or plan out way ahead of time,” Vasquez said. She said that RAISE hopes to recruit now and plan for the worst. 

Though students do not have the resources to understand or materially change the national landscape of immigration policy, Marquez Salgado urged students to continue standing in solidarity with immigrant communities. 

“Acknowledging our privilege as WashU students, we have both the responsibility and the power to amplify voices in the immigration community, talk about these injustices, and mobilize against them,” Marquez Salgado said.