Vaqueros demand UTRGV give I.C.E the cold shoulder

Gloria Aguilar | Pulse 

Members of  Young Democratic Socialists of America (RGV-YDSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) protested against deportation and advocated to make the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley campus a sanctuary earlier today in Edinburg.

The head spokesperson of SJP and member of RGV-YDSA, who only provided her first name to Pulse, Miriam, said the goal for this protest was to raise awareness of the student-led petition to make the university a sanctuary.   

“[SJP] thinks our campus, which advertises itself as 97% hispanic, should care about the safety of its students… that means that I.C.E would not be allowed to detain students on campus without a warrant,” Miram said. 

Members of  RGV-YDSA  aim to inform students on this “serious issue” of deportation as a result of  the “Mahmoud Khalil” case.

“No one is safe… you can be a green card holder, have not committed any illegal activity, and you can still be targeted,”  Miram added.

The petition put out for students to sign was not only to make UTRGV a sanctuary, but to adjust protection on campus, according to one of the protestors. 

Below are the demands the organizations protested for today:

1. “For the university to take a confrontational stance on I.C.E… every action an I.C.E agent takes needs a warrant from a  judge. Also, we want the university cops to not enforce immigration laws.”
2.  “We want UTRGV to treat reporting someone to I.C.E or threatening to as harassment.”
3. “We acknowledge that the university can only do so much to protect us from I.C.E… So this is why we want UTRGV to alert students when I.C.E agents are on campus.”
4.  “We also want the university to make clear statements on the upcoming changes on immigration laws.”

Daisy, a UTRGV student who only identified herself with her first name, said not having I.C.E on campus “hits home.”

She is one of the students who signed the student-led petition.

“It feels like my signature can make a change, I’m willing to do it for someone else right now,” she said

Jonathan, a UTRGV mass communication student who also only identified himself with his first name, attended the protest in support of a friend.

“I don’t want to see people in my life be taken away and not seeing them for a long time,” he said.“I can’t imagine it feels any good to walk around in fear of your life everyday.”