With President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to deport three million immigrants, students across the country are petitioning their colleges and universities to designate “sanctuary campuses” in order to protect undocumented immigrants. Now, a group of Brandeis students, faculty, staff and alumni have followed suit with an open letter to administrators.

In a letter addressed to University President Ronald Liebowitz, Provost Lisa Lynch and Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel, community members have highlighted the struggles undocumented immigrants might face under a Trump administration, calling on the University to pledge its support for students at risk. “We see this as a concrete action the university can take to support and protect the people within our community,” reads the letter.

Citing fears that Trump and his cabinet could abolish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — a policy that allows immigrants who arrived before the age of 16 to obtain temporary visas with exemption from deportation — the letter urges the University to take the necessary steps toward protecting students and their families on campus.

In an anti-Trump walkout and protest last week, one undocumented student spoke about her DACA status and the uncertainty she felt after Trump’s election. “I find myself having privilege, because a lot of people in my community don’t have that [DACA status],” she told the crowd. “The process to apply for citizenship is a lot more complicated than a lot of people think. I’ve given everything I have to this country, and it’s really upsetting to know that so many people here don’t love me back.”

The letter also called upon the University to provide mental health services designed to help individuals dealing with the trauma of familial separation and threat of deportation. Ultimately, though, the signees assert that sanctuary status is integral to serving the University’s social justice mission. “If we do nothing when Trump becomes President, then the stated commitments to diversity, justice, and inclusion that Brandeis has made will prove themselves an empty ruse. This is not a moment when we can afford silence,” the letter states.

More than 107 other colleges and universities have seen movements and petitions for sanctuary campuses in recent months, according to Sanctuary Schools, a Facebook page that tracks sanctuary school movements across the nation. There are also over 200 sanctuary cities across the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are subject to restrictions in places of worship, schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations, according to an Oct. 24, 2011 memorandum from then-Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement John Morton. The memo outlines the ICE’s sensitive locations policies, which assert that immigration law enforcement actions at these locations should generally be avoided and may only take place when prior approval is obtained from an appropriate supervisory official. Alternatively, ICE officials may act without permission if there are exigent circumstances necessitating immediate action, according the the ICE website.

In an email to students, faculty and staff on Thursday night, Liebowitz wrote that the administration will not permit immigration enforcement on campus with respect to students, faculty or staff without a warrant or clear demonstration of exigent circumstances, per ICE policy. He added that University Public Safety officers will not act on behalf of federal agents in the enforcement of immigration law, nor will the University release student, faculty or staff immigration status information to the federal government unless mandated by court order or other valid legal instrument.

“While no one knows what will happen in the future, and although we join many universities in studying what the term ‘sanctuary campus’ means, we wanted to reaffirm the practices Brandeis University already has in place,” Liebowitz wrote in the email, which was co-signed by Lynch and Flagel.

At a town hall discussion for post-election unity on Tuesday evening, incoming Chief Diversity Officer Mark Brimhall-Vargas asked the audience to consider whether visibility or lack of visibility would work best in protecting undocumented students in discussing sanctuary campuses.

“Like many colleges and universities across the country, Brandeis will continue to closely monitor the implications of any potential policy changes,” Liebowitz wrote in the email. “We are proud to be part of a university that continues to assert its founding and core values of justice and equity,” he concluded.

On Sunday night, Flagel sent an email to the community with a list of student resources, including student support groups and counseling services. He also noted that the Department of Public Safety has added extra patrols, in part to help protect minorities in the wake of Trump’s election.

The open letter had 988 signatures as of press time. The only contact information provided for the creators of the petition is an email address for sanctuarycampusbrandeis@gmail.com.

A representative from the listed email address could not be reached for comment as of press time.