‘Uplifting immigrant voices’: WashU students found new immigrant justice club

By Wash U Student Life News

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.”  Keep Reading.