This post was updated Jan. 28 at 6:53 p.m.
More than 1,000 people marched across campus Wednesday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
The walkout – planned by multiple organizations, including multiple Undergraduate Students Association Council offices, the UCLA Afrikan Student Union and Bruin Democrats – began with speeches at around 2 p.m. in Bruin Plaza. Attendees held signs reading, “No one’s an immigrant on stolen land” and “ICE Out.”
“We are here to raise our voices for those who have been silenced, who have been forcibly hidden, who have been separated from their families,” Karla Vasquez, the president of the Labor Student Association, said. “For every human being that has been hunted based on their skin color, their form of labor, their language and their existence, we claim belonging to the land that we call the U.S.”
The Trump administration cracked down on immigration enforcement activity in June, with United States Customs and Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arresting more than 10,000 people as of Dec. 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
An off-duty ICE officer shot and killed Keith Porter, a Los Angeles resident, in Northridge on Dec. 31, after Porter fired gunshots into the air, according to The Guardian.
Trump expanded immigration enforcement operations to Minneapolis in early January, sending 2,000 federal agents to the area, according to PBS.
Protests erupted in Minneapolis after an ICE agent shot and killed U.S. citizen Renée Good, who was sitting in her car in a neighborhood where federal agents were conducting immigration enforcement actions Jan. 7. Video footage taken from an agent’s cell phone and a witness at the scene showed Good driving away from the officers and one of them shooting her three times.
Two federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, another U.S. citizen, at a protest against ICE in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. The federal agents tackled Pretti, removed his registered firearm and shot him 10 times.
[Related: ‘This shouldn’t be happening’: Students react to troops, ICE raids in LA]
“We march, we gather, and we create because Keith Porter, Renée Good, Alex Pretti, and countless others should still be here,” the organizations said in a Jan. 27 post announcing the event.
Karla Vasquez Perez, the president of the Labor Student Association said in a speech that people gathered at the event to speak up for marginalized communities impacted by immigration enforcement activity. She called on elected officials to stand up to human rights violations, deportations and violence.
USAC’s Internal Vice President, Tommy Contreras, called for UCLA to designate itself as a sanctuary campus – a university that limits its cooperation with immigration enforcement, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Several public safety aides and UCPD officers with batons gathered behind the crowd throughout the protest. Steve Lurie, the associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, said the public safety aides and UCPD officers followed the group to ensure their safety.
“It was a great event – peaceful, calm,” Lurie said. “People’s voices were heard … zero issues.”
The speeches ended at around 2:35 p.m., with attendees transitioning to shouting various chants – including “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back” and “The people united will never be defeated.”
Protesters – some of whom waved Mexican and Palestinian flags – marched up Bruin Walk toward Murphy Hall at around 2:40 p.m. The group then circled Dickson Court North before walking down Dickson Plaza.
Political science professor Michael Chwe said he believes UCLA should do more to protect undocumented students, including by implementing additional on-campus security measures.
“ICE has to be out of campus,” Chwe said. “ICE has to be out of California. ICE has to be out of Los Angeles.”
Jack Feng, the Vice President of External Affairs for the UCLA Graduate Student Association, said he worries about how the university would respond to potential ICE operations on campus.
“I am an international student, and given the current political climate, I think no one is safe,” Feng said. “I have friends and peers who are immigrants and undocumented and international students, and we all are united.”
Second-year psychology student Nathan Rifkin said he believes people in power are not taking adequate action to stop ICE activity.
“I’m really pissed off about ICE – very angry,” Rifkin said. “We, the people, have to take power into our own hands.”
Katie Chang, a second-year anthropology and public affairs student, said she joined the demonstration to protest the upcoming U.S. Senate vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a funding bill for the 2026 fiscal year Thursday, which included $64.4 billion in funding for DHS. The Senate must approve the bill before it goes to Trump’s desk for him to sign.
“What everybody is doing today is showing out and putting pressure to not vote yes on the bill,” said Chang.
Protesters returned to Bruin Plaza at 3:05 p.m. and dispersed by 3:20 p.m.
Contreras encouraged students to attend another anti-ICE protest Friday in Bruin Plaza at 2 p.m.
“Students have always been the moral compass of this nation,” said Contreras. “When politicians hesitate, students move.”
