Hundreds in Gonzaga community demand university ‘stand up to’ ICE

On a chilly Friday, hundreds of Gonzaga University students and faculty members gathered on campus in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling on the university to “stand up to” the agency in the midst of national controversy.

The protest was spurred by similar anti-ICE movements around the country, including the more than 1,000 local high school students who have walked out of classes this past month and an ICE agent’s killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis.

“As the state-sanctioned terrorism continues, we are called upon to stand up, speak out and do as much as we can to protect our neighborhoods and vulnerable community members,” Gonzaga student Jolene Henrikson read into a megaphone at the protest. “We acknowledge the work the university has done. At the same time, especially in light of worsening conditions, we call upon the university to do more.”

The group behind the protest, Do Better Gonzaga, has previously criticized the university for holding stock in companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the Gonzaga Bulletin reported. The group wrote in a news release that “Student organizers hope that this mass mobilization of the Gonzaga community will pressure the University administration to take material actions to protect its community and uphold its mission.”

A 2024 university policy dictating how demonstrations should occur on Gonzaga’s campus has drawn further ire from protesters. The policy states that protests can only be held between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., noise levels must remain nondisruptive, participants cannot block walkways, and participants must show their face and ID card to university employees upon request.

In an email statement, Gonzaga spokesman Dan Nailen said the school recognizes that peaceful demonstrations like the one Friday are “an important way for students and other members of the university community to make their voices heard.”

“Our Jesuit values and University Mission call upon us to seek justice, uphold the dignity of all persons and to build bridges of understanding that can lead to a more hopeful and peaceful future. They also call us to be people for and with others, and to seek justice,” he wrote. “Demonstrations can be powerful opportunities for expression of ideas and catalysts for change, and we appreciate that Gonzaga students are dedicated to working toward a more peaceful future.”

After Henrikson’s speech, student Diana Ramirez-Leon asked what would need to happen for Gonzaga to “care” about the actions of ICE.

“Do you need your Latino students living in constant fear that they could be next before you say something?” she said. “Do you need one of our family members dragged out of their cars before you can send a ‘thoughts and prayers’ email?”

Gonzaga University has a webpage dedicated to Undocumented Student Support, which includes links to legal aid and community support. On Dec. 10, 2024, the school’s then-President Thayne McCulloh and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Kent Porterfield posted a statement of support for undocumented students to the page.

An assistant professor of political science, Jenaro Abraham, said he was representing international faculty who “could not safely join us today after increasingly authoritarian and punitive immigration regimes.” Many face a “precarious legal condition,” “arbitrary visa delays,” and “harassment by immigration authorities.”

“Some of our most talented professors are navigating these obstacles quietly,” he said. “I am here to support you and applaud you – the students – because what you are doing really matters.”

Abraham called the seemingly “senseless cruelty of ICE” capitalist, fascist, exploitative and racist.

“I’d like to end by saying you’re on the right side of history,” he said to the protesters.

The crowd began a march through campus, their collective chants of “Say it once, say it twice, we will not put up with ICE” and “No hate, no fear – immigrants are welcome here” echoing off the tall buildings around them. Some watched from open doorways and overhead windows.

Seeing so many peers protesting left second-year political science student Layla Napple feeling hopeful.

“I think it’s especially important for college students to be out here, because we’re the next generation of America, pretty much,” Napple said after the march. “It’s our job to be out here protesting what we don’t believe in.”

A second-year history student, Denni Chaput, said that Friday’s march is the second protest she has been in at Gonzaga, the first being in response to the Israel-Palestine conflict last year.

“Even then, I think more people are waking up and realizing the way all of these forms of state violence through both money and political power are connected,” Chaput said. “And so I’m very glad people are showing up to this and hopefully learning more about how colonialism and control work and are able to have solidarity with them.”

A psychology professor at Gonzaga, Anna Marie Medina, observed the protest and said she was “super glad the students are out here doing this.”

“The administrators are very supportive of free speech,” she said. “I mean, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, we need to talk to each other even if we disagree with each other. And I think we need to be out here saying, ‘Here’s what I think, and if you don’t agree with me, let me know. What are your big concerns,’ right?”

As a developmental psychologist, Medina said she finds the case of 10-year-old Karla Tiul Baltazar, a Logan Elementary School girl who was detained by ICE with her father earlier this week, “deeply concerning.”

“My understanding was that (Karla’s father) had a legal asylum case pending, and I thought that the goal was to eradicate the criminals in this country, and it doesn’t seem like those are the people that we’re targeting,” she said. “I mean, the kids in that classroom where the kid is not coming back – and she’s been at that school for a while. How do they make sense of that? And as we as adults, we’re not really sure what sense to make of that.”

Children are currently building a picture of the world, Medina said – one that reflects the environment they are in.

“And the world – I’m concerned about that picture of the world they’re building,” she said.