{"id":368558,"date":"2026-08-11T17:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/368558\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:20:07","slug":"aclu-files-lawsuit-against-fiu-for-disciplining-students-over-silent-anti-ice-protest-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/368558\/","title":{"rendered":"ACLU files lawsuit against FIU for disciplining students over silent anti-ICE protest on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and other legal groups announced Tuesday they have filed a lawsuit against Florida International University for disciplining seven students<\/a> who took part in a silent protest on campus in March in opposition to the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida\u2019s colleges and universities are meant to be places for debate, disagreement, and discussion,\u201d said Nicholas Warren, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida. \u201cThe ICEBreakers have every right to express themselves, and FIU cannot turn its campus into a \u2018protest-free zone\u2019 through student conduct rules. We\u2019ll see FIU in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining the ACLU of Florida: the Community Justice Project, Reid Levin PLLC, and Slater Legal PLLC.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: FIU moves to discipline 7 students for ‘indoor’ silent protest on immigration policies<\/a><\/p>\n

The students in question \u2014 the ICEBreakers \u2014 participated in a silent protest March 13 against the school\u2019s voluntary collaboration with federal immigration enforcement on campus. Students stood for a few minutes unveiling shirts that read \u201cICE OFF FIU,\u201d and then left the room. The silent protest took place during a \u201cfireside chat\u201d with FIU President Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez and former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

The group intended to protest FIU\u2019s voluntary collaboration with immigration enforcement<\/a> on campus. After months of trying to meet with Nu\u00f1ez to voice concerns with the policy, students said they felt they had no other outlet through which they could voice their concerns to her.<\/p>\n

The students charged have told WLRN<\/a> they feel that their freedom of speech is being trampled by the school. <\/p>\n

The school has acknowledged the silent protest did not disrupt the program, but moved forward with disciplining the students under a blanket policy that no \u201cexpressive conduct\u201d can take place indoors.<\/p>\n

FIU has demanded the students make videos about the school\u2019s ban on so-called \u201cexpressive conduct\u201d that takes place indoors, the infraction the students are being charged with.<\/p>\n

FIU spokesperson Madeline Bar\u00f3 previously told WLRN that its policies are in accordance with the First Amendment along with Florida law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“FIU applies its rules prohibiting protests and demonstrations in university buildings consistently, regardless of viewpoint. This ensures that classes, research, and academic spaces can function without interference or disruption,” Bar\u00f3 wrote in an email to WLRN. “The University allows protests and demonstrations in outdoor areas, giving people a meaningful way to share their views, just not inside university lecture halls, labs, offices, or residence halls.”<\/p>\n

ICEBreakers and the seven charged students also filed a preliminary injunction motion on Tuesday to block FIU officials from enforcing the unconstitutional policy against them and other ICEBreakers members as the case proceeds to trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIU is the first university in the country to volunteer to deputize campus police into ICE agents,\u201d said Max Fondren, president of the ICEBreakers student group, in a statement. \u201cWe are all too aware of the chaos these ICE partnerships have created across communities in South Florida. It makes us feel unsafe, and we have every right to protest it. We will not be silenced or forced into compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cICE has no place at any university, especially one that calls itself a haven for international students,\u201d said Andrew Caro, one of the seven charged students, a first-generation college student, and the son of Mexican immigrants. \u201cInviting federal enforcement on campus goes against everything this university claims to represent\u2014and instead of listening to students\u2019 real concerns about this, they punished us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the lawsuit ICEBreakers v. Nu\u00f1ez here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and other legal groups announced Tuesday they have filed a lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-368558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368558","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=368558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}