{"id":459490,"date":"2026-09-10T15:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459490\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:30:11","slug":"san-diego-city-college-students-rally-to-protest-ice-arrest-near-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459490\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego City College students rally to protest ICE arrest near campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students at San Diego City College were outraged that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a student near campus.<\/p>\n

The arrest happened Tuesday morning at the corner of 16th and C streets<\/a>. Renatho Kemsley Casseus was taken into custody, while his passenger, also a student, ran and took refuge on campus. Both are Haitian immigrants.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Casseus entered the country in May 2023 and was released by the Biden administration. In June, the Trump administration ended the Temporary Protected Status for Haitians<\/a>. The program lets immigrants stay and work in the United States if conditions in their country are too dangerous for them to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of his claims will be heard by an immigration judge and he will receive due process,\u201d a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Students held a rally Wednesday afternoon in a plaza near where the arrest happened. They said they had warned the college administration that something like this could happen since the Trump administration ramped up deportations last year.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Diego City College students marching around campus following a rally against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement action near campus, Sept. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Hernandez, a board member of MEChA de San Diego City College and one of the rally’s organizers, said the administration didn\u2019t seem to take their concerns seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t feel like they really care enough to make these trainings and the things that are required to protect the students institutionalized and mandatory, not just a suggestion or an option,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Grae Fairlie, a member of Justice in Palestine, who also helped organize the rally, said some students were afraid to attend class on campus because of the incident. And some were thinking about dropping out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people who are genuinely scared,\u201d she said. \u201cWe saw that all through kind of last semester, when attendance went down a little bit. People didn’t feel safe. So for that threat to actually happen, there are people who are definitely scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration released several statements Tuesday saying ICE was not welcome on campus. Students said that was not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel unsupported by some of the admins and the people that should be here to protect us to make this an inclusive place,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Diego City College student Darence Lozano holding a sign that reads, “ICE is not welcome” at a rally on Sept. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

Despite the San Diego Community College chancellor\u2019s office claiming<\/a> that ICE agents had left campus and the vicinity before San Diego Community College Police Department officers arrived, students, staff and faculty members said they have video and photographic proof to the contrary.<\/p>\n

They said campus police directed traffic after the incident and spoke with ICE agents. English professor Mona Alsoraimi-Espiritu was one of the faculty members who witnessed that.<\/p>\n

Under California law, campus police and college district employees are forbidden to participate in, assist with or coordinate in ICE enforcement activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now our campus administration is planning to review those and meet with the faculty who actually observed that firsthand \u2026 to try to understand what was happening,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that’s part of what students are really frustrated about. We feel like our campus police should be here to protect us, and that has always been a concern on our campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

She spoke to the student who was chased onto campus by ICE agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe student was traumatized,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, you know, I work with students every day. I’ve been a teacher for over 12 years, and I’ve never seen a student so afraid and uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

“There is a growing fear in the community,” she said. <\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Haitian community and allies are planning a peaceful sit-in in front of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building downtown to denounce the arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students at San Diego City College were outraged that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-459490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}