Demonstrators protesting ICE on USF Campus. Photo by Leah Burdick

55 demonstrators gathered along Fletcher Avenue across from USF Palm Drive, protesting the University of South Florida (USF) for advertising U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recruitment and collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Students held signs reading “ICE Off Campus” and “Protect Our Students.”

“USF has partnered with Customs and Border Protection for recruiting at career fairs, and they’ve sponsored recent recruitment efforts by campus police,” said Students for a Democratic Society member Victoria Hinckley. “When immigrant students see that, they feel like USF isn’t on their side.”

Hinckley said international students should feel safe on campus, and advertising Customs and Border Protection recruitments sends the opposite message  

“We are demanding that USF make campus a sanctuary campus so that our immigrant students and international students, they don’t have to stay home from class. They don’t have to hear the risk of deportation. That they feel safe on campus because right now, a lot of immigrant students and a lot of international students don’t feel safe on campus because of that,” she said.

Hinckley said an international student from Colombia, who was apart of SDS last spring, was suspended for participating in the pro-Palestine encampment. She said this put his student visa at risk and he was no longer able to return to the county.

Other demonstrators said they’re upset USF has signed on to the federal 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to work with ICE.

Demonstrator Cassidy Nordland will be an incoming USF student this fall.

“I’m very dismayed that they’re allowing ICE recruitment on campus, especially as someone who’s about to start college here. It makes me embarrassed and ashamed that my school would publicly do that, especially in a largely Hispanic and Latino area,” Nordland said.

She was not the only demonstrator who felt this way. Others said they are now hesitant about starting their college program at USF.

While demonstrators chanted, members handed out flyers and passing cars honked in support.