ICE Sparks Fiery Protest

Students protest the potential presence of ICE at the Career Fair

Paulina Sierra / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

A sociology professor, Greg Prieto, Ph.D., discovered on a casual walk to lunch that a potentially threatening organization – one that could shake the stability of the lives of certain USD students – might be present at the annual career fair.

“I learned about ICE’s potential presence at the Career Fair when a Career Development staff person happened to be walking alongside me on my way to lunch, and she shared with me that they had gotten this registration,” Prieto said.

Undocumented students were informed on Friday, Sept. 21 that their safety might be compromised the following Tuesday due to the fact that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) might be coming on campus for the Career Fair.

Prieto and María Silva, who works at the Mulvaney Center and is an ally to undocumented students alongside Prieto, investigated the claim further. Through Robin Darmon, director of Career Development, they were able to confirm that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was registered to attend.

The original registration for the event was from ICE, and the claim was that they were specifically searching for students who could become agents. This was the first time the government entity had registered for the career fair. Because USD receives federal funding, USD was not able to reject or make any further decisions about their presence at the career fair. Career development, however, came in contact with the registrees, and information being provided to Career Services. While the registration originally said that ICE specifically would be in attendance, the person that came in contact with Career Development services said that representatives of DHS as a whole would be going, and the online registration eventually was edited to fit this, but not until several clarifying phone calls were made.

Meanwhile, Prieto decided to contact Natasha Salgado, president of USD’s Associated Students, who then amplified the message to all student leaders of identity-based student organizations, such as the Movimiento Estudiantíl Chicanx de Azatlan (MEChA), the Chicanx student organization, Black Student Union (BSU), and Pride. Planning for action steps began within the next two days, at a series of meetings with the students.

Alanah Winston, a student leader from BSU, was involved in planning.

“Saturday we decided that one day of demonstration was not enough,” Winston said. “We wanted to get more traction, more attention, we wanted to give people multiple chances to be there in solidarity for our undocumented students.”

The decision was made to have a four-pronged approach. First, the students would draft a statement of their grievances with the way the university handled the information. Second, a discussion would be held Monday night, Sept. 24, with Prieto, María, Career Services, and student leaders to answer student’s questions. Third, there would be a visual demonstration during the career fair in protest of ICE and their presence on campus. And finally, there would be a talk-back discussion on Wednesday night.

The students then drafted a statement constructed was sent out Monday, as a Google Form, which gave students the opportunity to sign it in solidarity.

“The university claims to be inclusive, open, welcoming, and caring to all those who share its mission, and we are calling on the institution to adhere to its principles and act, in particular when the Department of Homeland Security does not share our values as a Catholic university,” the statement begins. “Our undocumented community here has been a direct asset to the advancement of this institution. USD uses the prospect of diversity for admissions and advertisement, yet refuses to protect those they use as marketing ploys. We call on undocumented students for their intellect and resources, yet we are failing to protect them. We are occupying indigenous land, and in doing so we owe our respects to the people who tend to this soil. We must do better.”

Monday night, the panel was held at Manchester Auditorium, with an attendance of about 75 students. These students proceeded to ask questions about why this happened and enumerate their grievances.

“A lot of it was an articulation of the frustrations students felt at not being told with more notice, and also not taking a bolder stance in opposition to ICE’s presence given its apparent alignment with our mission,” Prieto said.

However, what was most significant to Prieto were those who didn’t attend.

“For me, one of the biggest things that came out of Monday was the absence of the administrators who were responsible for the decision room,” Prieto said. “We had a couple of the deans there, there were several directors and AVPs, the associate vice presidents, but none of the executive council members who were talking directly with Robin.”

Monday night, the DHS announced that it would no longer be attending the Career Fair due to the fear of more negative press. While this was a victory for the organized students, the decision was made to continue with the demonstration, since  their grievances were with the lack of transparency demonstrated by USD. On Tuesday, the day of the event, the demonstration outside the Hahn University Center, which was housing the Career Fair, was held. Students held signs that ranged from direct anger at ICE and DHS to quotes from Pope Francis.

Maya Ramirez, MEChA student leader and activist, spoke about her views on USD’s role in this.

“We are not going to accept the fact that USD put the undocumented population at risk,” Ramirez said. “Their irresponsible actions, the fact that they did not stay transparent with us, is indicative that the relationship between administration and students, especially students of color, is broken, and we’re looking to change that.”

Another major presence at the protest was a written statement titled Federalist 86, which was submitted anonymously to the organized students.
The statement called the actions of the students tyrannical, and insisted the enforcement of the rule of law, as well as indirectly critiqued Natasha Salgado.

“The issue at hand is one precisely of law and of men, and of which of the two ought to be held to the higher degree than the other,” the Federalist 86 reads. “It is clearly evident that our founders’ thought was superior, however it is dismal that in our modern day we have succumb to the tyrannies of the majority over the rule of law.”

The authors of the Federalist 86 declined to comment. Prieto addressed the argument.

“There are plenty of laws on the books that are deeply unjust that people hate,” Prieto said. “Take that same conservative position and ask them about Roe v. Wade. There’s a law that allows for abortion. So our question is not about whether something is legal, but whether something is just, and just because something is illegal, does not mean that we are not going to raise our voices to let it be known that we think it ought not to be. So, I think that the argument that we should not support our undocumented students because they’re undocumented misses the point entirely, which is that they shouldn’t be in the first place, because of the deeply unfair and politically pragmatic considerations that have gone into keeping their status as undocumented.”

Prieto also commented on the portion of the Federalist 86 that called the action taken by the organized students “tyranny of the majority.”

“I think if you look at the sheer number of students who turned out for the protest, you can see that they’re the minority,” Prieto said. “You can look at the demographic data for this campus, and can see that they’re the minority. If you want to counter-protest, you have every right  to do so, and I would encourage you to do so… I don’t think you can play up your victim status and then use that as a reason to not engage in the dialogue, because I don’t think you’re going to be lampooned in the way you think you might be. You might get push back, people will be critical of you, but that is the responsibility we all have to share when we articulate our opinions in the context of free speech.”

The conversation was then moved to Wednesday, Sept. 20, when people were invited to gather and debrief on what had occured. A major difference between Monday and Wednesday was the presence of several administrators who came to listen and answer question.

Prieto felt that the interactions between the students and administrators was productive.

“This is what happens when administrators show up, when you face the students and open a dialogue with them,” Prieto said. “I think Natasha did an incredible job facilitating that, of making sure everyone was being respectful and civil. I think what that did was that it brought students face-to-face with the nature of the decision-making process on this campus, so they learn where the breakdown in communication happened, they heard a little bit about why the upper administration made the decisions that they did.”

While Prieto felt that the conversation began productively, Alanah Winston felt tension with administration.

“From a student perspective, in all honesty, I think we were productive on our side,” Winston said. “I will admit, my trust is broken with the administration, and I do not look at them anymore and think they have our best interest at heart, and so that is something that they’re going to have to earn back. Yes, they can say that they learned, and that they were listening, but until we see action, I would say I’m not convinced.”

While the first part of the conversation was mostly defensive, this changed when an undocumented student revealed her status and discussed in emotional detail the process of realizing the university had failed to tell her that they could have been out at risk.

Prieto remarked on the way this changed the conversation.

“I think that really touched the hearts of the administrators that were there,” Prieto said. “And I hope that the lessons that she raised, the transparency, advance notice, and bringing your stakeholders into the decision-making process are critical parts of being good administrators.”

While administrators made an appearance in these conversation, the conservative voice never did, which Prieto found disappointing. Prieto shared his thoughts on these students who did not speak.

“I think the other thing that it is important to keep in mind is that when we are acting out of principle, you might often be acting in the minority. That is certainly how our students felt outside at the career fair, they were being walked by, ignored, taunted by all kinds of people that didn’t want to see them there,” Prieto said. “These are the inevitable risks of political action and using your voice. So, while I understand that it would be hard enough to walk into a room like that, I think there’s a way to do it, and I think if students feel passionately enough about these issues, they can and should do it, recognizing all the while that they have, presumably, a group of people who feel like they do.”

Winston, student leader from BSU, felt compelled to share what she believes is the secret to successfully advancing one’s political statements: the ability to lend one’s face to the cause.

“When you’re passionate about something, and you want to take a stand, you just have to not care, you’re going to get support and criticism for it,” Winston said. “So, it doesn’t really matter if you’re opinion is unpopular, I guarantee someone else shares it. You just have to find like-minded people, and find strength in each other, and present as a united front. I think there was room for them to do that, and we genuinely, as the students, wanted them to come. From our perspective, we cannot understand why somebody would endorse ICE being on this campus, and we genuinely wanted someone to attempt to explain it to us. Not coming from a “can you disprove my opinion?’ but ‘why do you feel this way? Is there something I’m not seeing?’ And so, it’s a little bit disheartening that they didn’t come. We hope that eventually they will be willing to engage in conversation, because we won’t stop having the conversation.”

While the week is over, the conversation will continue on, and the work for undocumented students done by Greg Prieto and María Silva continues.

When asked if he feels optimistic, Prieto gave a hesitant yes.

“In some ways, my feelings about this are unimportant,” Prieto said. “Who I trust, how good I feel, it’s almost unimportant to me. What I think is more important is doing the work. And so, there’s been an immigration task force meeting scheduled for next week, I look forward to meeting with my colleagues and getting back to that work, and I also know that we have a series of demands that students want to see acted up, and that’s going to be folded into the work María and I have been doing on this campus for the last couple of years. So, I feel optimistic, but optimistic or not, the work continues.”

While a comprehensive conversation between opposing sides was never had, administration heard the students who organized, and intends to change the way they disseminate information, and only time will tell if the intentions stated were true. For now, the students are watching.