Seattle U. student president Rodriguez steps down

Carlos Rodriguez did not come to the United States legally. He was brought in by his parents when he was just 3 years old.

Through President Obama’s DACA program, he’s been able to get an education, a job, and become the student body president of Seattle University.

But Rodriguez announced that he’s resigned from student government, and from his internship at the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

“I decided to step down because of my health,” he said. “The political climate has really taken a toll on my mental health [and] my physical health.”

Related: Seattle Mayor defied Trump immigration order

Rodriguez said that he has had trouble sleeping and had gastrointestinal issues over the recent campaign season.

“The second reason is that I needed to step down so I could have more time to be involved in my community,” he said.

Rodriguez steps down

It started with the president’s order to start work on a border wall.

Rodriguez said he reached his breaking point with the president’s order on immigration last Friday.

“There are just so many other executive orders that might not affect me personally, but affect communities around me, communities that I think about and care for, especially like the refugee travel ban,” Rodriguez said. “It really stirred up a lot of emotions for different people. I always tell people that what I’m going through, it’s part of something much bigger. This is connected to farm worker rights, and the Black Lives Matter movement, so many other social movements we should be talking about in conjunction with immigration.”

He plans to work with other immigrants who are trying to get into college and see what other good he can do in the community.

But Rodriguez said he has no interest in trying to change the minds of critics who say he should become a citizen, to just go back to Mexico. He said he’s spent enough time trying to explain to people just how complicated the system is for people like him who want to get legal status.

“It’s just not easy,” he said. “It’s nearly impossible for me to be able to, for one, afford the cost of going through this, and also the time for these applications. Just to get a green card takes 15 years in some cases.”

The more he talks with people about his decision to resign, the more Rodriguez realizes there are so many reasons for him to take a step back.

“Because student government is supposed to mirror how real government functions,” he said. “For me, I couldn’t be in a position where I was supposed to mirror the position of our current president.”

But that doesn’t mean he will stay away from politics.

“I’ve always been involved with student government,” he said. “Growing up I was student body president in my middle school, in 8th grade. It’s something that I’ve always been interested in.”

“But with everything that’s been going on, I’d like to question what government is and does and how it’s supposed to function,” Rodriguez added. “If it’s supposed to function for people like me. As I think and I really reflect and question these things and figure out what I want to do, that could be a real possibility, if I get citizenship.”