Morehouse College has outlined how it would respond if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were to conduct a raid to arrest and detain members of the campus community. A plan was shared by the administration after a Faculty Council resolution was sent out on Feb. 25 requesting information on the eventuality that ICE may show up on campus.
Morehouse’s plan if ICE conducts raids on campus
“[We] have agreed that if agents arrive at our gates, they will be held there until they are met by the highest-ranking officer on duty. If they present a warrant, it must be verified before any further action is taken,” Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown wrote in a Feb. 26 email, according to Capital B News.
He added that a warrant would be “handle(d) in a manner that best serves the interests of the Morehouse community.”
Police Chief Charles Prescott added that the situation would be handled in order and without chaos if a verified warrant is presented by ICE officers.
“If it was verified and it’s a real warrant, I can’t deny that right from a federal officer,” he said. “You’re not going to drag people out of here in handcuffs out of the front gate. I’ve seen the stuff they’ve been doing. We’re not going to cause a scene.”
Morehouse says it will protect its students
Prior to the laid-out directives, Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said he wants to protect students and doesn’t plan on cooperating with ICE.
“If immigration services were to show up in Morehouse, we would not cooperate,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If they were to show up and want to investigate and collect our students who may not be documented, we would not cooperate with that process, or at least I would not authorize my staff to cooperate, because I do think that it’s not a moral practice, especially when young people are essentially trying to put themselves in the position to be better and significant contributors to our society, which is what going to college is really about.”
ICE can now access college campuses
On Jan. 20, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a directive ending a Biden-era initiative that kept ICE from operating in certain locations. These “sensitive” areas included churches, hospitals, schools and college campuses.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders and rapists—who have illegally come into our country,” a DHS Spokesperson said in a statement. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
In 2021, the Biden administration had put in place limitations on these areas. ICE agents were told to avoid operations in these locations “to the fullest extent possible” in order not to “restrain people’s access to essential services,” according to Inside Higher Ed.
Colleges are responding in different ways to potential ICE presence on campus
Since this change, colleges and universities have responded to the possibility of on-campus ICE raids in different ways.
“What we would recommend is that every campus should prepare their protocols [and] communication guidelines,” Miriam Feldblum, the executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, told Inside Higher Ed. It “supports a sense of preparedness and can help reduce anxiety on campus. We need to prepare for all circumstances.”
Some institutions have chosen to collaborate with ICE. It is the case of Columbia University, where green card holder and Palestine protest leader Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and detained. The university had laid out its own directives.
“In general, ICE agents must have a judicial warrant or subpoena to access non-public areas (areas not open to the public such as classrooms, housing, and areas requiring CUID),” the university indicated on its website. “Exigent circumstances (for example, the risk of imminent harm to people or property) may allow for access to University buildings or people without a warrant.”
“Areas open to the general public are similarly accessible to ICE agents, and they may enter without a warrant,” it added.
Students are not obliged to respond to ICE
“If an ICE agent talks to you, you have no legal obligation to respond to them,” Charles Kuck, an Atlanta immigration attorney, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You have no legal obligation to produce paper. You have no legal obligation to allow them into your house without a warrant signed by a judge. Even if you’re undocumented, every right in the Constitution is given to you … in your personal life.”
The ACLU has published an open letter calling college and university leaders to protect freedom of speech and protect the rights of immigrant and international students.
“Colleges and universities should encourage robust discussion and exploration of ideas by students, faculty, and staff, regardless of their nationality or immigration status. Nothing obligates universities to act as deputies in immigration law enforcement — to the contrary, universities do not and should not veer so far from their core mission for good reasons,” the organization wrote, according to Black Enterprise. “Schools must protect the privacy of all students, including immigrant and international students. Schools must abide by the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”
