About 70 people attended a walkout Friday to protest heightened immigration enforcement activity in the United States and to show support for migrant workers.
Several student groups – including Defend Migrants Coalition West LA, Students for Socialism UCLA, UC Divest Coalition at UCLA and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA – organized the event. The rally began around 1 p.m in Bruin Plaza with people chanting, “One struggle, one fight, migrants of the world unite,” and “The people united, will never be defeated.”
Some demonstrators raised Palestinian and American flags, while others held signs reading “ICE melts when the streets get hot” and “Keep ICE off our campus.”
“Today, we are gathered at UCLA in both love and rage,” a Defend Migrants Coalition West LA representative said in a speech. “Love for our migrant friends, co-workers, family, neighbors and teachers who must live in fear and whose presence has been ripped away from us by immigration enforcement.”
UCLA students have led vigils and walkouts on campus to protest increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity since January, when the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. The rallies have also honored Alex Pretti, Keith Porter Jr. and Renee Good, three U.S. citizens killed by federal agents in separate incidents.
[Related: Over 1,000 demonstrators join on-campus walkout to protest ICE crackdowns]
The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration in Los Angeles began in June with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents arresting more than 10,000 people as of Dec. 11, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Nicole Garcia, a fourth-year English student, said she is concerned about the lack of protections for undocumented students on college campuses following the recent detainment of a Columbia University student Wednesday. Federal agents gained entrance to the student’s residence hall without a warrant under a false pretense of searching for a missing child and proceeded to detain her, according to CNN.
“We’re not exempt to that at all,” Nicole Garcia said. “We have questions to the UC, UCLA, specifically, about what they’re doing to protect their students.”
The crowd started marching towards Murphy Hall around 1:31 p.m.
Aditya Patki, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said he attended the protest to call on UCLA to establish itself as a sanctuary campus – meaning that the university would vow to not comply with ICE. The Undergraduate Students Association Council recently called for the UC system to establish themselves as sanctuary campuses in a letter to UC President James Milliken and the UC Board of Regents.
[Related: USAC recap – Jan. 27]
UC police officers do not detain or arrest people solely on the basis of suspected immigration status, and do not collaborate with federal immigration enforcement agencies to detain or arrest people, according to the UC website.
Patki said his family, some of whom are immigrants, motivated him to stand in solidarity with the anti-ICE movement.
“All immigrants have helped build this country,” he said. “It’s very important to me to stand up and fight to protect the rights of immigrants, especially when you have an administration that is terrorizing immigrants in the streets.”
About 60 protesters were outside Murphy Hall as of 1:45 p.m., and several public safety officers blocked the entrance to the administrative building with their bikes.
Protesters also delivered a letter to UCLA administrators at Murphy Hall, which included several demands – such as protections for undocumented students and the expansion of funding and resources for the Presidential Fellowship for Experiential Learning, which offers financial support for undocumented students enrolled in for-credit experiential courses.
Jazmine Garcia, a first-year biology student who participated in the protest, said she hopes UCLA notifies students when ICE is on campus and provides additional resources for undocumented students.
The UC agreed to send alerts to students and staff about immigration enforcement activity on campus in compliance with a new state law.
[Related: UC agrees to send alerts on campus immigration enforcement activity]
“I was born and raised in LA and I think it’s very important to have my voice heard for the families that can’t speak up,” Jazmine Garcia said. “Doing simple things like this is powerful in itself.”
A speaker from the Health Equity Hub at UCLA – an independent student organizing community largely comprised of medical students and public health students – said she strongly opposes ICE and the presence of federal immigration enforcement officers at UCLA medical facilities.
A UCLA Health spokesperson clarified after federal agents entered Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in late June that the officers brought a person in custody for treatment, rather than to raid the hospital.
[Related: Federal agents enter Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, officials deny ICE raid]
Jazmine Garcia said she encourages all students to take action against increased immigration enforcement. Some student groups are planning to continue holding anti-ICE walkouts, Patki added.
The walkout participants started dispersing around 2:30 p.m.
“It’s sometimes hard, but it’s important to not lose hope with everything that’s going on and realize it is still possible to fight and resist against the onslaught of awful things that are happening,” said Theo Lemkin, a second-year chemistry student who attended the protest. “In any way you can, just keep hopeful – do what you can.”
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