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Jose Gonzalez-Campelo\/The Cougar<\/p>\n
In Jan. 2025, the Department of Homeland Security<\/a> issued a statement<\/a> declaring that university campuses are no longer off-limits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>. <\/p>\n UH will comply with the law on all matters related to ICE, said the University. Current undocumented students remain eligible to attend and earn a degree from the University.<\/p>\n Under the Biden Administration, institutions like schools, hospitals and churches were considered sensitive areas where ICE activity was discouraged.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although this has affected colleges nationwide, the impact is especially pronounced in Texas. Daily ICE arrests in Texas have jumped from an average of 85 per day during the final 18 months of the Biden Administration to 176 per day in the first six months under Trump, according to The Texas Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n Houston, in particular, has been the target of sweeping immigration raids: in May of last year, ICE reported that it deported more than 500 people and arrested more than 400 suspected undocumented immigrants in and around the city in roughly one week. <\/p>\n Last October, they arrested more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants over the course of 10 days, said ICE.<\/p>\n Student groups like the UH Young Democratic Socialists of America<\/a> and Students for Justice in Palestine<\/a> continue to call<\/a> on UH to act as a sanctuary campus <\/a>but their efforts have largely failed to gain traction.<\/p>\n Local police departments are required by Texas state law<\/a> to support ICE operations. Similar demands<\/a> have been issued unsuccessfully by students at the University of Texas at Austin<\/a> and the University of North Carolina Asheville<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas A&M University<\/a> and the University of Texas at Arlington<\/a> posted guides on immigration enforcement. A similar webpage run by UH has since been removed, and the University has stated that it will provide no further guidance on this matter.<\/p>\n As a result, ICE can now enter public areas of universities without a warrant, but federal immigration enforcement officers must obtain permission<\/a> from an authorized campus official to access nonpublic areas of campus.<\/p>\n Institutional employees are not required to grant access, provide documents or assist federal immigration officers in entering nonpublic areas of the campus.<\/p>\n To enter private areas on campus, ICE must present a warrant signed by a judge, distinct from simply an immigration warrant, which is not sufficient. <\/p>\n Students do not have to open the door to private areas on campus, like dorms, without being presented with a judicial warrant. Students are also entitled to remain silent, refrain from signing any documents and record or photograph the encounter.<\/p>\n news@thedailycougar.com<\/p>\n \t