Statement on Immigration Justice

UNC Charlotte LGBTQ+ Staff and Faculty Caucus

Statement on Immigration Justice

We, the UNC Charlotte LGBTQ+ Staff and Faculty Caucus (hereafter “the Caucus”), provide this statement to affirm our solidarity and support for the 11 million undocumented peoples currently living in the United States and their extended communities worldwide. First, we affirm that immigration justice is an LGBTQ+ issue. That is, we assert that our collective commitment to improving the lives of all LGBTQ+ peoples must include fighting for forms of wealth redistribution and transformative social change that will improve the lives of undocumented peoples as well. More broadly, we recognize that some of the most pressing issues impacting queer and trans communities in the U.S. today are deeply interconnected with those impacting immigrants across the country. Access to adequate housing, education, health care, employment that guarantees a living wage, food security, and freedom from state and sexual violence are struggles that are shared across immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities. Moreover, for many immigrants and LGBTQ+ people of color, insecurity across these domains is often heightened. Lastly, as a collective of staff, students, and faculty, we, the Caucus, also recognize that the structural obstacles we mention above impact LGBTQ+ and undocumented peoples’ access to higher education. Thus, to hold our institution, UNC Charlotte, accountable for creating an accessible and affirming space for all peoples, we must continue to point out, critique, and dismantle the administrative obstacles, as well as implicit and explicit forms of bias that prevent LGBTQ+ and undocumented peoples from benefitting from the resources provided by the university. Accordingly, we stand committed to ensuring our Charlotte communities and those across the state, that the Caucus will fight for undocumented peoples as part of our collective struggle for LGBTQ+ life and liberation.