‘Does this sound like a free country to you?’: Students protest Trump immigration policy

More than 60 students and community members gathered in the rain Wednesday night at Sample Gates to engage in a peaceful rally against mass deportations and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies. The rally was prompted by recent executive orders on immigration.  

“While Trump continues to push an extreme level of brutality against immigrants and BIPOC communities, this violence is not new to us and our people,” a protester said in a speech when the protest began. “We need to call for IU to become a sanctuary campus to protect our own community. This would mean creating policy protecting undocumented people on campus and not allowing ICE officers onto campus without a warrant.” 

President Donald Trump and his administration have been advocating for stricter policies to remove undocumented immigrants and to limit border entry in the United States. As a part of this push, college campuses are no longer off limits to ICE, according to a statement made by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman. 

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” Huffman said in the statement.  

ICE’s official X account has been posting statistics of arrests, documenting over 7,000 people in just the first nine days following Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20.  

At the rally, attendees were encouraged to speak using a megaphone. One protester emphasized what they believe ICE’s real mission is. 

“They were built to dehumanize immigrants and make us lose hope in this racially discriminatory system even more than they already have,” the protester said. “ICE is separating our brothers, our sisters and our children. Does this sound like a free country to you?”  

In response, the crowd shouted “no,” raising their flags and signs higher. 

“School is for education, not deportation,” one sign read.  

Similar words were being chanted throughout the night by protesters.  

“Down, down with deportation. Up, up with education,” they shouted.  

Among the protesters shouting was Sarah Alhaddad, an IU student running for student body vice president. 

“All of our struggles are interconnected, and I am going to be the voice in Indiana University Student Government that I wish I had when everything was going on last year with the encampment,” Alhaddad said.  

Last spring, the IU Divestment Coalition staged an encampment in Dunn Meadows following the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war and the administration’s subsequent response. The night before the encampment, the IU administration set up an ad hoc committee that modified existing policy with a new rule that all structures, including tents, required pre-approval from the university. Law enforcement arrested 57 protesters throughout the encampment’s duration. 

“You saw the way that those cops bulldozed us, and they will not hesitate do the same to you,” Alhaddad said. “At the end of the day, all we have had is all we will ever have, which is each other.” 

Several speakers voiced the night’s theme of solidarity and community. 

“It is important to me because it is my people and my culture,” IU freshman Gisel Vergara said. “Especially in times like this, we should just pick each other up. I am not the daughter of an immigrant, but this still impacts me.”  

Freshman Saidy Rivera had a different reason for attending the rally.  

"My sign says that I’m the voice of the family. This is the main reason why I am here, so I can speak up and advocate for them,” Rivera said. 

The peaceful rally ended with traditional Mexican music and protesters dancing together.  

“When it comes to protests, one can never know what may happen,” freshman Edgar Martinez said. “While it may be promoted as peaceful, it might not be, but I am proud to see that my IU peers and fellow Latinos know how to act and how to handle events like these.”