The signs read “ICE OUT,” “REFUSE RESIST FIGHT FASCISM,” and other slogans common at protests against the federal immigration crackdown. But the protest was not in the streets of one of the U.S. cities where residents were turning out by the thousands for days on end to demand an end to the crackdown. It was on an HBCU campus. 

At Florida A&M University last week, critics of President Donald Trump’s administration took to the heart of campus to say no to what they believe is their university’s complicity with his immigration crackdown.

Dozens of students showed up to the protest organized by FAMU Students for a Democratic Society, a student coalition in Tallahassee, where the university is located. 

“Students actually stood around the Chick-fil-A and chanted back with us, which was so powerful,” said Jayla Jones, a third-year political science transfer student at FAMU. “That’s why we do it, because we know students on campus do not want ICE on campus.” 

The group is protesting the university’s signing of a document that allows campus police to assist federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and be trained by federal law enforcement. 

They are urging students to contact the Board of Trustees and the FAMU Police Department to demand that they end the agreement, which they argue is optional. And the group is calling for students to be notified when similar documents are signed, saying students did not receive any notification of the agreement from the university. They also want the university to respond to their protest, but so far they have been met with silence. 

At the protest, students said they were afraid to speak out in fear of retaliation from the university and of having their student visas revoked, Jones continued. 

FAMU has more than 10,000 students enrolled, with only 1% to 2% of the student body on student visas, according to the university. 

The university told Capital B there has been no need to collaborate with federal agents because all of FAMU’s students “are properly documented.”

In an email to Capital B, the university said: “FAMU maintains strong and longstanding working relationships with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.” The university said that in the past, it partnered with law enforcement during bomb threats and nearby active shootings.

The email added: “These partnerships are grounded in a shared commitment to public safety and the well-being of our campus community.” 

The university said in the email that FAMU police officers do not contact, detain, question, or arrest individuals solely on the basis of suspected undocumented immigration status. 

FAMU has enrolled more than 5,000 international students since the opening of the institution’s  Office of International Education and Development, which was established in June 2003, according to the university. 

In 2024, more than 40,000 Tallahassee residents were born outside of the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.  

High tensions at FAMU

Tensions on FAMU’s campus have been high since Marva Johnson, an ally of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, was selected as the university’s 13th president in May 2025.

As things heated up on campus, the university consolidated majors, such as Africana studies, with environmental studies and eliminated one fine arts degree. Students said they believe it’s because the university is trying to comply with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI agenda. But in the Tallahassee Democrat, the university said the decision was made, in part, because of low enrollment.

But since last fall, students at FAMU have also been calling out college administrators for signing the document, called a 287g, pledging cooperation with federal immigration agents. FAMU signed its agreement in the spring of 2025. 

In October, members of the Students for a Democratic Society began using social media to raise awareness about the agreement and grab the attention of administrators. 

One of their Instagram posts about the agreement included the names of people who signed it, including FAMU Police Chief Audrey Alexander, who is also an alumna of the university. 

The post was shared more than 1,800 times.

“We must hold our institution accountable, because this agreement is not making students feel safer on campus. It’s actually doing the exact opposite,” Jones, the FAMU political science student, told Capital B. 

Not everyone who commented on the viral post was against the agreement. 

“Are you surprised a police department is working with federal agents? I support this,” commented @_keyvion, whose account identifies him as a FAMU alumnus. 

Students in Tallahassee organize 

More than 15 colleges in Florida signed agreements to partner with and assist ICE, including several public colleges in the Tallahassee area. 

Across Tallahassee, students from FAMU, Florida State University and Tallahassee State College have started a joint coalition to speak out on the agreement and what they believe are other injustices on their campuses. 

Last week, Jones said at least two students from nearby FSU attended the rally on Friday. The students came not only to help out the FAMU SDS chapter, she said, but also because they believe the agreements pose a danger to the surrounding Tallahassee community, she said. 

That same week, the FSU chapter of SDS announced the university had suspended the organization.

“FSU admin SUSPENDS Tally SDS for two years for their opposition to ICE collaboration on campus,” the student coalition posted on social media. “We will struggle to protect immigrant students no matter what the FSU admin tries to do, they cannot hide the truth from their students!” 

Capital B reached out to FSU for comments multiple times but did not receive a response at the time of publication.