UNLV Instructor Apologizes for Saying He Would Report Undocumented Students

A part-time mathematics instructor at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas has apologized for saying on Facebook that he would report students to immigration authorities if they were in the country illegally, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

In his statement, the instructor, George Buch, said that his comments were “intended to be a joke although clearly a poor one” and that he would never create an atmosphere of hate or intolerance in his classroom.

The comments were made on Facebook in a conversation about immigration with one of his students who is of Cuban descent, the newspaper reported. The instructor called undocumented immigrants “criminals” and suggested he might have to report the student if he were undocumented because there were “no safe spaces” in his classes.

A university official told the newspaper that the administration was investigating.