On President Donald Trump's second day in office, his Secretary of Homeland Security rescinded a Biden-era rule barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests near "sensitive locations," including colleges and universities. Now, higher education leaders in Utah and elsewhere are navigating the fallout.
According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, international students make up more than 5% of U.S. higher education students. And roughly 22% of faculty were born outside the country.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said campuses are seeing a chilling effect due to hostilities toward international community members.
"Higher education should be the bastion of free ideas and academic freedom," Weingarten said. "Because how do you create new things? How do you innovate? How do you imagine if you don't actually create academic freedom?"
Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a touchstone of his new administration. Nearly 9% of Utah's population are immigrants or about 300,000 people. Weingarten encouraged unions to work for "safe, welcoming campus communities with opportunity and dignity for all."
An institution's approach to doing so may change as ICE is allowed on campuses.
Tanya Broder, senior counsel on health and economic justice policy at the National Immigration Law Center, pointed out immigration agents can only legally enter public, not private, areas of campus without a warrant.
"It's very helpful to plan in advance when you can," Broder said. "To have a real procedure for when people are showing up and trying to enter someplace where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy."
Broder suggested establishing and communicating campus policies and protocols for encountering ICE. She added schools should designate individuals to review judicial warrants for validity.
The American Federation of Teachers also advised institutions to provide legal and mental health support for people who may be affected, offer "know your rights" training, reaffirm student data and privacy protections and issue public statements of support.
Haddy Gassama, director of policy and advocacy for the nonprofit UndocuBlack Network, spoke to higher education leaders on a recent webinar.
"I implore us to leverage the power that you have in ensuring that, one, it's communicated that you are protective of your students and, two, to go outside of the campus and be advocates," Gassama emphasized.
