The volume of undocumented immigrant students applying for the California Dream Act has dropped more than 40 percent due to immeasurable fears of deportation, new data shows.

“The national conversation surrounding immigration and deportation has created an environment that is confusing and threatening to many of our students,” Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley stated in an interview with The Daily Journal.

The Trump Administration has evidently made it a priority to persecute illegal immigration, which has resulted in a pandemonium within our country. Thousands of students have become petrified to disclose personal information with our government, according to educators and state political leaders voicing their concerns within the Assembly’s higher education committee.

In Donald Trump’s address on immigration, he had proposed 10 policies to enforce deportation and diminish the number of illegal immigrants in the US.

The Trump administration plans to triple the number of ICE deportation officers focused on identifying and quickly removing illegal immigrants in America “who have evaded justice.” Additionally, more than 5,000 Border Patrol agents will be hired and placed along the border rather than behind desks.

The policies intend on ceasing the Fourteenth Amendment right of birthright citizenship. Trump made a proposition not to grant citizenship to US born children of illegal immigrants, or also known as “anchor babies.” The objective is to deport children with their parents in order to keep immigrant families together.

“We will break the cycle of amnesty and illegal immigration. There will be no amnesty,” Trump stated in his immigration address.

The widely disputed administration has issued new regulations stating that any illegal individual who has been charged with an offense, or is suspected of committing a crime is receptive for deportation. This enactment has drastically heightened the expanse of susceptible undocumented immigrants that will come to be deported.

The California Student Aid commission received 19,768 applications in 2016. A considerable decline compared to the 34,162 applications that were collected in 2015, according to the CCC system.

The Chancellor of California’s community college system has verbally expressed his apprehension over the scarcity of financial aid applications from undocumented students.

The California Dream Act, in effect since 2012, sanctions colleges to grant state-funded financial aid and scholarships to undocumented students. In order to qualify for the grant, students must be an undocumented immigrant, hold a U-visa or a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.

President Trump has yet to capitalize on DACA, a federal program that awards Dreamers work permits and provisional exceptions from deportation, which has entrusted a projected 750,000 Dreamers amnesty since launching in 2012.

Spokeswoman for the commission, Patty Colston stated in a press conference that a copious amount of qualified students have mistakenly confused the state’s Dream Act with DACA.

As a contagion effect, immigrants and supporters formed a united protest in New York City on February 16. The demonstration was a platform for their animosity and strong condemnation of the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

It is heartening that countless citizens have chosen to support, protect, and take a stand for the immigrants who reside in our country. The unanimity between each person, culture, and race is what makes this country flourish.

The deportation regulations have undoubtedly impaired our country’s values and those who have risked their lives to establish them. We are currently living in a tumultuous period where frightening history is in the making. The new administration yearns to solidify this country as a whole, when in reality their principles are segregating it.

In order to qualify for the California Dream Act, students must also have attended a California K-12 school and high school for a minimum of three years at each school, along with receiving a diploma. Additionally, an affidavit must be filed stating that he or she will file an application to become legalized within the college they plan to attend.

These details should bring an end to the ongoing delusion that immigrants are simply given additional benefits. A significant percentage of Americans believe giving immigrants a free education would be rewarding lawbreakers through their waged taxes.

They are required to attend school and earn a diploma, as anyone else does. To do such a thing, and to be offered college admission, exhibits determination and diligence. Immigrants should not be restrained from a college education due to their unfortunate circumstances or lack of funds. This is why the Dream Act was established; to give opportunity to those who have earned it.

An unnamed federal official told the East Bay Times, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not access (California Dream Act data) for administrative immigration enforcement purposes.”

Though it is unlikely to happen, I.C.E. would only appeal for their records if officials within the Department of Homeland Security were to call for a criminal investigation. “They would also need to obtain a court-issued warrant to gain access to any student knowledge,” the official said.

Several politicians and advocates have expressed their uneasiness that the self-imposed shortcoming of tuition aid could “send many of the state’s young, educated immigrants back into the shadows, unable to attend college or launch careers,” according to Tatiana Sanchez and Katy Murphy of the East Bay Times.

State officials have sworn to safeguard immigrant communities as an effort of insubordination against President Trump. The commission has yet to be questioned for private student documents for the federal government, and they have no intention of releasing them.

It is entirely justifiable to feel alarmed of what our government intends to implement. Various states have already been exposed to I.C.E. raids and cases of deportation. Many citizens have publicized their position towards the matter; few expressions have been adverse, but most are compassionate and seek to provide aid to those affected.

“The California Community Colleges has always embraced the values of diversity and inclusion,” said Chancellor Oakley in The Daily Journal. “It is what makes our system, and the state of California, strong and prosperous.”