The Department of Homeland Security, specifically ICE visited CSUB on November 18 for a scheduled review of their programs for international students. However when the notice came out, concerns started to rise revolving around student safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what\u2019s going on, I don\u2019t really care if this is a routine thing, this could go so ugly so quickly and it puts students at risk and I\u2019m very much worried for my friends who don\u2019t look like me so I\u2019m here to support them,\u201d said CSUB student AnneMarie Flohr.<\/p>\n
Student AnneMarie Flor spent the morning outside the Welcome Center protesting the DHS presence with her mother.<\/p>\n
At first, multiple DHS agencies, including ICE, were expected on campus, but a follow-up email clarified that only one official would be present.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe department of Homeland Security, their field officer has told us that they are here for a routine annual visit to conduct an audit of two programs at CSUb, both of which serve international students. They were last here for the same purpose on December the 4, 2024,\u201d said Provost at CSUB Deborah Thien.<\/p>\n
Despite the clarification, students on campus still shared mixed reactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think they should be here, yes, ICE is a really big thing right now but I feel like a campus, a college campus especially should be a safe place for everybody to come and just get educated without having to worry about ICE coming,\u201d said CSUB student Lyanna Cazares.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t really scared I was just confused because it was just kind of like all of a sudden, you think they\u2019d give you a heads up,\u201d said student Jaime Medina.<\/p>\n
Student concerns also drew the attention of local organizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from professors and students that they\u2019re very concerned and some of them are even choosing not to be on campus, but for students who are on campus or have to be here, its to provide some type of safety and security,\u201d said volunteer with the Rapid Response Network Rosa Lopez.<\/p>\n
Campus officials say, this was the first time students were formally notified under the new California SAFE Act, which requires alerts about anticipated immigration-related activity.<\/p>\n
But with the increased ICE presence in recent months throughout the county, some professors say DHS shouldn\u2019t have been on campus to begin with to prevent further fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that theres sort of legal requirements for programs that we have on campus that perhaps require auditing, I think that those can be done administratively, perhaps virtually or perhaps through bureaucratic agents,\u201d said Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at CSUB Jose Villagran.<\/p>\n
CSUB officials say although this was purely routine and no students were subjected to searches, anyone still feeling uneasy can access on campus resources if needed.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Homeland Security, specifically ICE visited CSUB on November 18 for a scheduled review of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,155,153,152,162],"class_list":["post-60976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-kern-county-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60976","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=60976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}