{"id":7210,"date":"2025-03-26T15:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T19:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=7210"},"modified":"2025-03-26T23:17:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T03:17:57","slug":"protest-at-cuny-highlights-concerns-over-dhs-recruiting-amid-immigrant-community-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2025\/03\/protest-at-cuny-highlights-concerns-over-dhs-recruiting-amid-immigrant-community-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"DHS Recruitment on CUNY Campus Concerns Immigrant Community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Protestors holding up signs outside John Jay campus, Feb. 25\"\"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than 150 students, faculty, staff, and activists gathered outside the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in protest against the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s recruitment efforts at the school\u2019s annual job fair in late February.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The protest, fueled by growing concerns over the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents, brought attention to the deep unease felt by many students, especially those from immigrant families. As the largest public university system in the United States, the City University of New York (CUNY) has long been a safe haven for immigrant students, and many fear that these recruiting efforts could not only militarize campuses but also put their communities at risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The protest was organized by <\/span>Hunter Committee to Defend Immigrants<\/span><\/a>, a student group founded by the CUNY Internationalist Group advocating for immigrant rights, and it drew students from across CUNY schools, including Hunter College. Protesters argue that DHS\u2019s presence at the job fair sends a harmful message to immigrant students at CUNY, threatening to undermine the university\u2019s role as a safe space for marginalized communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Protestors holding up signs outside John Jay campus, Feb. 25<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grace Campbell, a 26-year-old student at Hunter College, voiced concerns about the impact of these recruitment efforts. \u201cCUNY is a largely immigrant school and the largest public university in the country. So, having DHS\/ICE recruiting here, especially during a time when mass deportations are happening, sends a message of fear,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIt tells immigrant students they aren\u2019t welcome, that their rights shouldn\u2019t be protected.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the news outlet The CITY, <\/span>approximately 30% of CUNY\u2019s students are foreign born, including around 4,000 who are undocumented, and the university enrolls more than 16,000 students who aren’t citizens<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

DHS, which oversees ICE, has been heavily criticized by immigration advocates for its role in the ongoing deportation efforts under the Trump administration, <\/span>which has made cracking down on illegal immigration a top priority<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ICE\u2019s presence on CUNY campuses has sparked protests in the past, and this year\u2019s appearance at John Jay\u2019s job fair only escalated tensions. The presence of U.S. Customs and Border Protection \u2014 another agency under DHS \u2014 amplified these concerns. According to its website, CBP\u2019s role at the border includes \u201c<\/span>keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. while facilitating lawful international travel and trade.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span> CBP is seen as a key player in policies that disproportionately target immigrants and people of color.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, the Trump Administration\u2019s plan to crack down on border crossings has included <\/span>restricting access to the CBP One app and asylum protections at the border, deploying more troops for border barriers and removal flights and allowing immigration authorities to arrest migrants in schools, churches, and hospitals<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anxieties were mounting on John Jay\u2019s campus, with police officers stationed around the building. Lucia Paredes, a 19-year-old sophomore at John Jay, explained why she was protesting: \u201cMy family are immigrants, and not all of them are documented. For ICE to even be invited here feels like a slap in the face to our immigrant population,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s like they\u2019re trying to entice students to work for a system that will deport their own families.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Izzy Taveras, an 18-year-old student at John Jay, shared her thoughts about the protest, noting that this was her first time participating. \u201cI\u2019m Latino, and I feel really strongly about how ICE targets my community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about John Jay \u2014 it\u2019s about protecting our community. ICE has done enough harm, and we don\u2019t want them here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The protesters worry that DHS\u2019s recruitment efforts could lead to students being drawn into a system that would turn them against their own communities. \u201cHaving DHS and ICE on our campuses is a form of militarization,\u201d said Campbell. More than <\/span>20% of total full-time employees for the Department of Homeland Security identify as Hispanic or Latino<\/span><\/a>. Nearly a quarter identify as people of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

For students at Hunter College, the protest represents a defense of their peers and the university\u2019s core values of inclusivity and support for marginalized communities. \u201cWe won\u2019t let our campuses become a place where militarization and harm are normalized,\u201d Campbell added. \u201cWhile attacks on immigrants aren\u2019t new under Trump, as they\u2019ve been carried out under every U.S. president, Trump’s mass deportations are a huge escalation that we are trying to meet head-on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is DHS recruiting at CUNY and what does it mean for the student body?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":7230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,325,1,324],"tags":[184,675,14,198,676],"class_list":["post-7210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-multimedia","category-news","category-student-life","tag-cuny-hunter-college","tag-dhs","tag-hunter-college","tag-immigration","tag-protests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7210"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7361,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210\/revisions\/7361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}