Hundreds of students gathered for a protest led by the FGCU student group Borders to Bridges in the campus\u2019s student plaza on Friday, Feb. 6. The protest was held to show opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity and the 287(g) agreement signed by FGCU\u2019s general counsel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are protesting the extrajudicial killings by ICE agents all across the country, mainly in Minneapolis right now,\u201d said a student protester.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students congregated to express their fear and anger in response to the recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota as ICE uses increasingly aggressive tactics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Trump Administration signed into effect the 287(g) agreements, which allow state and local law enforcement officers to work with the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws, giving them the same authority as ICE agents.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIts not the first time that students have made some change,\u201d said organizer Maria Campos on whether she feels that FGCU would be receptive towards their wants.<\/p>\n
In 2020, the Student\/Farmworker Alliance held protests to ensure that FGCU would not associate with companies that had not joined the Fair Food Program. For Campos and other students, the protest was successful<\/p>\n
The students\u2019 protest on Friday was against FGCU\u2019s participation in the 287(g) agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur main objective is to push the Board of Trustees, President Timur and UPD to remove the agreement and instead create a safe space for immigrant students, faculty, or anybody that might be even studying abroad,\u201d said Campos.<\/p>\n
Protesters expressed fears and concerns about their safety on and around campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI fear every time I drive past an ICE officer,\u201d said Dasani Acevedo, a student protester.<\/p>\n
They did not stand alone. Other community members participated in the protest, aiming to make their voices heard as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[Students are] out here defending our country, without having to go to war,\u201d said a protesting U.S. Air Force veteran.<\/p>\n
The students chanted and held hand-drawn signs during the protest. Some read, \u201cSchool is for education, not deportation,\u201d \u201cPrison without due process is a concentration camp,\u201d \u201cThey blame immigrants so you won\u2019t blame the billionaires,\u201d \u201cA nation of immigrants should not fear its own reflection,\u201d and \u201cDo the right thing, FGCU. End 287(g),\u201d among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Additionally, a counter protester who declined to be interviewed waved a flag depicting a digitally altered image of Good with a bullet hole on her forehead with the word \u201cHeadshot\u201d printed across it. He circled the protesters while shouting derogatory remarks about immigrants, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully support ICE and I believe what they do is a good thing,\u201d said Ellie King, a counter-protester who said that she came here legally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
King was asked about her stance on the 287(g) agreement and its signing. She said she was unaware of the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really have much say in it, but I just know that I fully support ICE, and I believe that no one should be here illegally,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
Other counter-protesters made their voices heard and weren\u2019t separated from the main protest. The University Police Department monitored the activities and had minimal involvement in the majority of the protest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have the same right to be here as the protesters. If we see anything getting out of hand then we will step in,\u201d said UPD Officer Anthony Garcia.<\/p>\n
Soon after, the counterprotesters were moved back by the UPD after they repeatedly entered the main protest group. Overall, students were able to voice their opinions and are awaiting action from FGCU.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all need to be together. Right now is the biggest time where it should be love instead of hate, instead of anger,\u201d\u00a0 organizer Yoselyn Montano said. \u201cWe\u2019re so divided and that\u2019s not how it should be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of students gathered for a protest led by the FGCU student group Borders to Bridges in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-154658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}