ECC students weigh in on the possible impacts that U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders can have on people and communities.

Immigration, specifically undocumented immigrants, has been an issue of concern for decades in the United States. Trump’s recent wave of executive orders address this issue.

“I definitely think what has been going on at the ICE raids and a lot of the Trump administration, especially recently, has been beyond a bridge too far,” said Eric House, a welding student.

House believes that these policies are set out to target not only the criminal side of the community but also the racial side.

“With a lot of these immigration policies, Trump’s not just targeting the people that he claimed that he would target, like, you know, hard-earned criminals or people actually causing issues in the community. He is targeting everybody of that racial demographic,” House said.

That racial demographic is the LatinX community.

Engineering student Julian Muñoz expresses similar thoughts to House.  Muñoz described the immigration policies as being too “far too extreme.”

“He [Trump] puts too much priority on those policies over other ones that actually need improvement,” Muñoz said.

“And I do agree that with borders, we do need some control, but this is just way over the edge,” Muñoz said. “I do feel personally that, again, it’s way too far because I do have family members here in the U.S. who immigrated here.”

Muñoz, who is of Mexican heritage, has relatives who immigrated here. Some of who are first-generation immigrants.

“It’s tricky for them too,” he said.

It’s also frightening.

“Now they’re worried about the birth citizenship being taken away for any kids that they may have here because that affects them too, and they’re not even born yet,” Muñoz said.

Both students spoke to the importance of immigration polices and borders.

“It is important for there to be some immigration policy in any country just for basic functioning,” House said. “There should be a process to enter a new country.”

Muñoz believes borders have essential roles in society.

Both disagreed with the methods in which Trump and his executive office have implemented the executive orders regarding immigration.

“We see countless reports of I.C.E. [U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids going on in schools,” House said. “Or, you know, random people that have lived in this country for over 20 years are having ICE show up at their door and are told that, oh, you can’t live here anymore. You have to get deported.”

According to local news outlets, one such raid occurred in Elgin in January. A 44-year-old father was arrested by federal immigration enforcement during a morning raid.

Enforcement officials were looking for a different man with a criminal record.

House believes the raids instill fear in undocumented immigrants.

“Much of our labor is supported by immigrants in America,” he said. “Immigrants are one of the backbones of this country’s economy, and regardless of if they are fully legal or not, if we did mass deportations of immigrants are going to is going to severely cripple the economy.”

ECC does not use immigration status to include or exclude students who enroll. In fact, services are available for undocumented students.

ECC is a Hispanic Serving Institution as deemed by the U.S. Department of Education. According to ECC’s website, over half of the student population identifies as LatinX as of fall 2024.

Muñoz thinks the effects of the executive orders could impact ECC students.

“If it gets to a point where it’s bad enough, people might stop attending ECC,” Muñoz said. “The area could be kind of seen as a target.”

Have a different opinion? We want to hear from you.

Contact Daniel Garcia, staff writer, at dgarcia7055@student.elgin.edu or observer@student.elgin.edu.