by Yucheng Tang
posted Feb. 26
About 40 protesters gathered in front of the Bell Memorial Union (BMU) today to protest the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a Chico State job fair.
Two recruiters from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a law enforcement agency within ICE, were recruiting at the fair. “No justice, no peace, until ICE leaves,” protesters chanted in the plaza outside the BMU as other students waited in line to check in so that they could attend the fair.
The single-door check-in process was a new step implemented for today’s fair, said Andrew Staples, university public relations manager.
A Chico State counselor participated in today’s protest, stating that ICE’s presence “causes fear and mental health anguish. It’s an impact on students.” He declined to identify himself because of what he said are his concerns about retaliation from the administration.
“I think it’s important for students and for faculty and staff to stand up and say something,” the counselor said. “I’ve met students who had concerns and issues and regards about the new immigration policies, and also having ICE on campus or people who represent Homeland Security. They have talked to me multiple times.”
PR Manager Staples told ChicoSol that he recognized that “it’s unsettling times, and it hasn’t been the most comfortable last couple of months on campus for sure.” But he also noted that “we are legally obligated to have organizations like HSI there.”
“We did not invite them, but we make these career fairs available to all kinds of organizations, and they evaluate and they sign up,” Staples said. “Once they sign up, as a federally-funded institution it’s our legal responsibility to not discriminate, to allow everyone who signs up to come.”
Staples thinks of the “peaceful protest” as a good example of “our campus community, making their voices heard, advocating for what they believe in.”
Staples said the safety measures for this career fair were “different” from measures implemented previously. “We knew that there was a strong possibility of free speech activity, and it’s a little bit more regulated on getting in and getting out.”
Two or three police officers stood next to the only entrance and exit. People needed to show student identification and check in their bags before attending, several fair attendees told ChicoSol.
A flier circulating earlier this week on social media announced a sit-in inside the BMU, and said, “Sitters will meet inside around the ICE recruitment table and sit down on all sides of it to prevent anyone from approaching.” That kind of disruption did not occur today.
Mac, a former Chico State student who preferred to remain unidentified, said she helped spread the word about the protest. “People who are currently allowed inside have to sign in, check in their bags. I doubt that if anybody from this (protest) area walked up, they would let us in,” she said.
Staples said that a sit-in, or chanting inside the BMU, would violate the university’s free speech policy, but all CSUC students were allowed to participate in the fair as long as it wasn’t a “disruption.”
ChicoSol was not allowed entrance to the fair or given an opportunity to seek comment from ICE recruiters.
Ty Torres, a construction management student at Chico State, attended the career fair inside the BMU. He said the protest was “kind of like an overreaction.”
“They (the recruiters) weren’t just talking about ICE, they were talking about other opportunities in their field. They were not actually deporting people right now,” Torres said.
Torres and his friend Payton Wheeler talked to the recruiters at the HSI booth. “They were hiring for a broad amount of positions, like sort of analytical stuff, more like information processing. They’re (also) having some sort of internship process,” Wheeler said.
A march against HSI’s presence took place on campus on Feb. 24.
Anna Krause, an organizer of the protest held earlier this week, said she hoped students attending the fair understand the role of ICE.
“[We want] to make sure that people know that this organization they might be interested in working for has a very real and a very scary impact on their own classmates and members of their own community as well,” Krause said.
Yucheng Tang is a California Local News Fellow reporting for ChicoSol.
So, if the KKK was hiring CSUC would be fine with them at the Career Fair?
What a sad state of affairs that armed guards protect ICE/Homeland Security at a CSUC sponsored event against their own students whose tuitions pay for the guards. The fact they wouldn’t even let the press in to a Career Fair is really distressing. This must not be repeated!