![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ICEOFFFIUshirtsprotest.jpeg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn this photo provided by ICEbreakers FIU, which blurred students’ faces, students hold a silent anti-ICE protest during a campus event featuring President Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez and Alex Rodriguez.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn this photo provided by ICEbreakers FIU, which blurred students’ faces, students hold a silent anti-ICE protest during a campus event featuring President Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez and Alex Rodriguez.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
ICEbreakers FIU photo <\/p>\n
On March 13, Florida International University\u2019s (FIU) Modesto A. Maidique Campus hosted a \u201cfireside chat\u201d between university president Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez and retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez. While dozens of students and faculty gathered outside to chant against<\/a> the university\u2019s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), nearly twenty student protesters took a quieter approach inside.<\/p>\n Roughly 40 minutes into the event, as Nu\u00f1ez and Rodriguez spoke, the group stood up inside the auditorium and unzipped their jackets to reveal matching white T-shirts emblazoned with \u201cICE OFF FIU\u201d in red lettering, recalls Andrew Caro, a 22-year-old FIU senior. Caro says he and the others were part of a group called ICEbreakers FIU<\/a>, which has been rallying against the university\u2019s controversial ICE agreement<\/a>, which essentially deputizes FIU police as immigration officers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very silent demonstration,\u201d Caro tells New Times. \u201cThere were no chants, no boos, nothing disruptive. It was just us showing the shirts, showing the messaging, demonstrating that we were against ICE on FIU campus.\u201d<\/p>\n While the protest appeared to end without any issues, several students who participated \u2014 including Caro \u2014 say they later received letters from the university informing them they were under investigation for possible student conduct violations.<\/p>\n Six students received letters from FIU stating that the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity was investigating whether they violated university rules by failing to \u201ccomply with a request or directive of a University Official or non-University law enforcement official in the performance of their duty\u201d during the March 13 protest, according to copies of the letters provided to New Times and an Instagram post<\/a> from ICEbreakers FIU.<\/p>\n The group wrote in the Instagram post that \u201cPRESSING CHARGES FOR PROTESTS IS BS.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI, myself, know in my heart I did absolutely nothing wrong,\u201d Caro says. \u201cI am simply trying to participate and advocate and be active in efforts towards helping my community be safe, because at an international university, ICE has no place here.\u201d<\/p>\n As the students were leaving the auditorium, they were confronted by an FIU police officer who asked to see their IDs and said their demonstration violated university rules, says Kaitlyn Daley, a 20-year-old FIU sophomore. Daley says faculty members who protested with the group pushed back on the officer\u2019s demands and asked whether the students were free to leave; she says the officer never attempted to stop them.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the cop didn\u2019t answer a bunch of times, we kind of just started filing out,\u201d Daley tells New Times. <\/p>\n According to FIU\u2019s student conduct and honor code<\/a>, the alleged violations could lead to suspension or expulsion from the university. <\/p>\n Both Daley and Caro see the investigations as an intimidation tactic by the university.<\/p>\n Moreover, Daley says it\u2019s telling that the protesters are facing the same level of discipline as FIU students who were members of a racist group chat that surfaced last month<\/a>. The university\u2019s investigation into members of the racist group chat appears to be ongoing, roughly six weeks after its contents were revealed. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just insane that we are facing the same level of consequences as these students who were calling for violence among their peers, and all we did was peacefully, silently, protest and speak our mind about an issue that\u2019s important to us,\u201d Daley says. <\/p>\n A spokesperson for FIU did not respond to New Times\u2018 requests for comment via email and text message. <\/p>\n This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t