Police departments at nearly a dozen Florida state colleges and universities have entered into an agreement with the federal government to help carry out immigration enforcement on campus.
The program, dubbed 287(g) and described as a “force multiplier for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” enables deputized officers to question or detain people who they suspect may be in the country illegally, the Miami Herald reports. In February, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and the Florida State Guard to participate.
“Florida is setting the example for states in combating illegal immigration and working with the Trump Administration to restore the rule of law,” said DeSantis. “By allowing our state agents and law enforcement officers to be trained and approved by ICE, Florida will now have more enforcement personnel deputized to assist federal partners. That means deportations can be carried out more efficiently, making our communities safer as illegal aliens are removed.”
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According to Inside Higher Ed, 11 out of 12 State University of Florida institutions have enrolled to participate in the program. The head of each police department would be responsible for determining how many officers they would want to complete the 40-hour online training. Universities that signed agreements did not provide a timeline for when the training might begin.
Florida college campuses enrolled in 287(g) include:
- Florida A&M University
- Florida Atlantic University
- Florida Gulf Coast University
- Florida International University
- New College of Florida
- Tallahassee State
- University of Central Florida
- University of Florida
- University of North Florida
- University of South Florida
- University of West Florida
FIU Faculty Speak Out Against ICE Agreement
Faculty at Florida International University (FIU) are speaking out about the agreements with ICE. In a statement to Inside Higher Ed, the FIU chapter of United Faculty of Florida called for the university to immediately withdraw from the program.
“We affirm that every member of our university community has a basic right to feel safe on campus—free from profiling, surveillance, and fear of deportation,” members wrote. “FIU’s latest act of anticipatory obedience undermines the rights of our community and jeopardizes the opportunity for all students and faculty to learn from and engage with their non-citizen peers. FIU’s haste to comply with ICE is in direct conflict with its stated vision. These actions distract from our educational mission and erode the inclusive environment FIU claims to foster.”
The statement also describes the student body as “majority Hispanic, heavily immigrant, and home to nearly 600 students protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.” According to U.S. News and World Report, approximately 68% of the student body is Hispanic.
Juan Gómez, director of the Carlos Costa Immigration Human Rights Clinic at FIU, told Florida Phoenix that students have said they are afraid to do searches on their computers. Some who are in abusive relationships have also said they are now afraid to call the police. Another professor said a student who is not a citizen came to him worried after he received a parking ticket.
FIU President, Police Chief Defend ICE Agreement
During a faculty senate session on April 18, professors issued a resolution asking FIU President Jeanette Nuñez and FIU Police Department Chief Alexander Casas to withdraw from the agreement with ICE. Nuñez was DeSantis’ former lieutenant governor before becoming FIU’s acting president in February following a board vote requested by the governor.
Casas defended the school’s decision, telling faculty he wants his department to have a say in how immigration enforcement goes on campus. He said he approached Nuñez about the program after conversations with other law enforcement agencies convinced him it “really is with our best interest at heart.”
“If I don’t sign that agreement, we open the door for other agencies who are on this agreement, whether they’re federal agencies in power to do so or state agencies directed by our governor or local agencies that have agreed,” Casas said. “Once I deliver someone to Krome [Detention Center] or turn them over to ICE, you’re right, I lose control. But, absent this agreement, I don’t even have input. At the very least, once they execute it, at least now I have input and my officers do have a little say in what could be the outcome.”
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Casas also said he will choose his “best officers” to be trained.
“If we have to deliver someone, we’re the ones you want to do it, because it will be done in the most FIU way, the most Panther way, we can think of,” he said.
Nuñez also addressed the recent visa revocations, stressing to faculty that visa revocations and ICE agreements are different but that they sometimes get conflated. She also noted FIU does not have control over visas. Earlier this week, the school confirmed that 18 students have had their visas revoked since Jan. 1, which Nuñez said is “less than half of one percent” of FIU’s 3,400 international students.
“If there are students who have engaged in criminal activity, it is our responsibility to remove them,” she said. “We have a responsibility to follow the law.” It is unclear what laws the students whose visas were revoked had broken.
As of April 24, over 280 colleges and universities have identified more than 1,800 international students and recent graduates who have had their visas revoked.
FIU Students Voice Fear, Concerns over ICE Agreement
FIU students, both those who lack legal immigration status and those who do not, have voiced their concerns in recent weeks. During the faculty senate session, one student said that the Dream.US scholarship program, which supports young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, was being terminated at eight Florida universities starting in July. As a result, the student said several FIU students will lose their scholarships and will no longer be able to attend.
Gaby Pacheco, president of Dream.US, told the Miami Herald that the group made the choice because of Florida’s decision to end in-state tuition for students without legal immigration status and the universities’ agreements with ICE.
“We do not feel our students will be safe on campus,” she said.
One FIU student, who NBC News is not identifying because he lacks legal immigration status, says he moved to the U.S. with his family when he was five after they were threatened by gangs in their native El Salvador. Since the school entered the agreement, the student says he now avoids certain parts of campus he considers risky.
“I’ve been trying to not go to the main areas of campus where police are,” the student said.
Another FIU student who lacks legal immigration status told NBC News that he immigrated with his parents from Central America when he was nine.
“It feels like I’m being persecuted even though I haven’t done anything,” he said. “I feel more anxious. I don’t know why but I see more police on campus recently. I try to act normal and dress nice.”
FIU student Melissa Tavara, who is a U.S. citizen, said she is worried about racial profiling and how campus police will carry out their new duties.
“How else would you look for these students?” she said.
