For the immigrant, Hispanic and Latino communities it’s been a difficult few years.
With ICE arrests now hitting 1,100 per day, as reported by the New York Times, more and more the communities feel fearful not just for themselves, but their families and loved ones, regardless of citizenship status.
“The threat of immigration enforcement can impair the ability of many students (undocumented and U.S. citizen students) to thrive in our schools,” states the California Department of Education website. They also state that half of California’s Students are members of immigrant families.
At Delta College, 49 percent of students identify as Latinx, according to a 2021 report by a 2022 Chincanx/Lanine Faculty (CLF) report. Those students face many challenges to get them across that graduation stage.
DREAMERS SUCCESS CENTER FILLS GAP
Delta College, however, offers many resources to help its hurting community, such as the Dreamer Success Center open to the immigrant population.
“Our mission is the right for everyone to be able to pursue higher education without fear of one’s immigration status. We acknowledge how the path for undocumented students in pursuit of higher education requires more determination, strength, and resilience than should be expected, or is fair,” the mission statement of the Dreamers Center from its page on the Delta College website.
The center, located in Holt 201, is a resource and safe space by many students both of documented and undocumented status. They have made it their mission to assist the community in any way they can from providing computers, printers to a safe space to work, study and even pray, to an ear to listen.
One of their main goals is to build a community where everyone feels safe, welcomed and supported.
“I would say the Dream Success Center definitely helps students feel more safe mentally because we want to make sure that every international student, not just Hispanic or any specific culture… we want everybody to know that they could be safe here and know that we care about them and we want what’s best for them, ” said student and Center worker Travis Van Nunez.
Another student and Success Center worker Julio A. Gloria brings up how he uses the Center as a place to study and meet up with other students on campus.
The center also provides legal assistance and counseling to its community, and Gloria pointed out how those are some of the most used assistance in the center. As well as putting on events and workshops to aid the community or bring awareness to certain topics.
“I think it [the Dreamers Center] brings them comfort. I know a lot of students, even though they be scared on campus, when they go there [Center] they feel comforted behind Miss Tina [Leal], because Miss Tina, she’ll put the students before herself,” said Gloria.
Leal is the student services program support coordinator at the Dreamers Center. See the article about the Dreamers Center by the Collegian. They provide many resources for the student population including academic support and referrals to mental health and basic needs programs.
Leal meets with students one on one as an intake process to help figure out their needs, what programs are available to meet their needs, whether it be Delta based programs or other outside aid. She is a great source of comfort for all the students at the center and many spoke highly of her throughout their interviews.
“Anybody that’s out of state status that comes into the Dreamer Center, the first initial contact is with me, Tina Leal, the coordinator of the Dreamer Center. I sit with them, I hear where they’re at. I meet them at where they’re at and then we find out where we’re going to go,” said Leal.
Leal makes it clear how the center isn’t a club. A club supporting immigrant students was present on campus in previous years, the I Am/Yo Soy club, and Leal said it would be more than welcomed to start again in the center.
“Because I am a one-woman show, it’s hard to do all that and plus I’m not faculty, I’m considered classified, so I couldn’t do that [be a club advisor] if I wanted to. But I do empower students and I give them that information. If you want that club, go to student life, ask for it so that we could try to get that up and going,” explains Leal.
The center’s activity in recent times is more on educating the population on what rights the community has in California and aiding them to make it easier to graduate or transfer.
“When we talk about mental health, under this administration, our students are feeling it. They’re hurting, they’re scared, they’re devastated, they’re dropping out of school. I’ve had families self-deport, full families. I’ve had students come and tell me that their mom and dad or their family doesn’t want them coming to Delta anymore because they don’t know what’s to come in the future, so they might as well just be working instead of getting their higher education,” Leal said.
She reminisced how early in the administration, when tensions with ICE were starting and was all over the news, she would call families and reassure them that California has laws in place to assist them and their loved ones.
“The stuff that we’re hearing is more down [in the southern U.S.]south is more scary because it’s so all over the media, but understanding that these services in California are different from that. And I have to keep reiterating that, and letting them know that Delta College is here to serve our community, and all these policies, like [AB] 540, SB 554, the DACA, all those things are in place and here’s what they can do under each one of those, and many others,” said Leal.
CONNECTING TO VITAL RESOURCES
A few events that the Dreamers Center have put on include Know Your Rights workshops that aid students on their legal rights and what to do in case they meet an ICE officer.
They even have scholarships available for their students in partnership with XXX
It’s not all just serious workshops and stress. The center also puts on wellness events, art events, field trips to colleges, and Dreamer conferences. These all allow students to build relationships with one another and decompress.
Leal still wants to do more. Recently Dean of Student Services Dr. Richardo Marmolejo has approved a field trip to an amusement park as a break for the hard working students.
Leal was also proud to report, while not sharing exact numbers for safety reasons, there was a rise in students who have used the center’s services and that the California’s Dream Act was utilized the most at Delta.
While a lot of the resources offered from the Center are for students who have a Delta College ID, the legal services the center includes anyone in the student’s household. The center also links to outside resources, like El Concilio, a nonprofit agency that aids the local community, Catholic charities, homeless shelters and more.
There are some limitations to the center, however. Leal explains how she is the coordinator of the center and is only aided by a few student workers through the student services sector, like Gloria and Nunez.
“I do it because I’m a Stockton native. I have heart and love for our students and community because this is my community. But it’s a lot,” Leal said.
She spoke of how she knows the center can do more not just in Delta but in the local communities, like the high schools and campesinos, the neighborhood’s farmworkers reside in, if only there was more staff besides her working.
“I feel like I need to reach so many more. I am one person. I’m doing my best, but myself, I’m really hard on myself and I really want to make sure we’re reaching more. So I have some strategic planning for this coming fall 2026 to reach moe of our students,” Leal explains.
While the Dreamer Success Center focuses on the immigrant population at Delta there are other services for the broader student population that they also have access to.
BROADER CAMPUS MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVES
There are other events at Delta that are put on by the Health and Wellness office that are also for the broader student population, regardless of immigration status.
The Health and Wellness office also puts on events such as Wellness Wednesdays, the new Active Minds chapter and the crisis counselors available on and off campus.
Wellness Wednesdays are mental health workshops started in Spring 2025 by the newly created position Student Program Specialist from the Health and Wellness office, Vannessa Plaza.
“The purpose of them [Wellness Wednesdays] is having a wellness, or a well-being day for all students” said Plaza.
Each event has a theme or topic they would like to highlight, for example, autism awareness and suicide prevention. They host various groups from Delta College, like the Dreamer Center and Pride Center, as well as outside organizations, like the Western Farm Workers Association and others table at the events.
They provide activities and food to the students who participate as a fun break and way to learn about services at Delta.
“I think for me the biggest thing about mental health is building community. And we started off with very low numbers, maybe 70 students and now it’s like students are looking forward to it,” Plaza said.
The events have been growing in attendance in recent months, hitting 300 students last semester.
Plaza is also an advisor to the new Active Minds chapter on campus, having recruited six wellness ambassadors.
Active Minds is a nonprofit organization focusing on student led advocacy for mental health. Their chapters can plan and push for mental health programs at their schools and be a part of nationwide partnerships to help make impactful changes in their community.
The six ambassadors come from the psychiatric technician and nursing program at Delta and are meeting regularly to come up with ideas and events to table at this and in upcoming semesters. Since the chapter is so new there hasn’t been many opportunities for them to be as active in the public as they’d like.
Meanwhile on a more personal level, Delta also gives students free access to UWill, an online telehealth service used by more than 4 million students according to their website.
However, only 1.7 percent of students use this free service, according to Director of Marketing and Communications, Alex Breitler.
UWill gives students access to speak with a licensed therapist,and provides crisis support 24/7 with two day after and 30 day after follow up care. They promise full transparency with real time data, reporting and coordinated care.
According to The Healthy Mind Study from 2024-2025, only 38 percent of college students claimed positive mental health, from a survey of over 135 colleges and universities. With 32 percent of those surveyed having been diagnosed with depression and another 38 percent diagnosed with anxiety, 67 percent have reported their mental health hurting their academic performance.
According to Plaza many students have come up to her at events asking for help to sign up and given their feedback on the service, how they want more time with the therapist.
Currently Delta gives students credits for 30 minute sessions with a therapist
With mental health being such a big problem across various communities Delta is offering various services across different groups and organizations to help its population. The biggest issue is figuring out where to start, who to talk to and what is available for a student’s specific situation.
