Fake news about ICE at college sparks protest

Student Affairs email leaked to students claimed ICE was recruiting on campus. Border Patrol actually came.

Protesters held signs and walked around Campus Center mall on Nov.19 because they said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency recruiters were coming to campus.

ICE did not recruit on campus that day.

An email from the Student Affairs division mistakenly said ICE representatives were recruiting in two administration of justice classrooms on Nov. 19 and 20.

Dean of Students Maryann Tolano-Leveque said she received a call from the dean of behavioral sciences Dana Hester on Friday alerting her ICE agents may be recruiting in the classroom. Tolano-Leveque said she emailed student services managers, but the information was not intended to be disseminated to all students.

She said she received an update over the weekend saying ICE agents were not coming to campus, but U.S. Border Patrol recruiters were.
Associated Students of Citrus College President Fernando Flores said he informed LUSA about the ICE visit.

An Instagram message from Latinos Unidos Student Association posted a screenshot of the email from Student Affairs.

“It is possible that they will arrive in a marked vehicle,” the LUSAdeCC instagram message said.

Guest speakers from the Border Patrol spoke in administration of justice professor Henry Provencher’s class. Provencher said he has many guest speakers throughout the semester from the criminal justice field.

“ICE tries to eavesdrop in on students and tries to find undocumented students,” Flores said. “The reports we’ve seen on the news, is they’d wait for them off campus. But they might find who is undocumented on campus.”

Flores shared a news report from LAist.com in which college students in Fullerton said ICE frequently came on campus.

Flores said he is relieved ICE did not come. He said he does not object to the Border Patrol coming to campus.

ICE agents may not enter offices or classrooms without permission or judicial warrant. Agents may not detain students without warrant either.

 

Managing editor Michael Quintero contributed to this article.

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