Image of Immigration Enforcement Agents and a University

Ohio Public Colleges and Universities: Reject Participation in Federal Immigration Enforcement

Ohio’s public colleges and universities must protect the safety and legal rights of international students from government overreach. Urge them to avoid complicity in President Trump’s inhumane and unlawful immigration policies.

Here in Ohio and the nation, immigrants are being targeted by political attacks that have real and devastating consequences. These actions erode not only individual rights but the foundation of community life. We urge universities to live up to the values they promote in their mission statements, marketing materials, and public commitments — that we are one campus community.

Ohio’s colleges and universities are engines of innovation, culture, and leadership development. These institutions appeal to students, researchers, and workers from around the globe. This legacy is at risk if our institutions contribute to the surveillance, detention, or deportation of community members.

Ohio’s educational institutions have no duty to act as an enforcer for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.

To the Presidents and Boards of Trustees of Ohio Colleges and Universities,

We call on our institutions to publicly reject any 287(g) agreements or contracts that would turn campuses into extensions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We students, faculty, and staff oppose any current or future efforts to detain, deport, surveil, or target members of our college and university communities.

Our message is simple: Our campuses must be places of learning, not fear. Spaces of community, not criminalization.

We chose to be part of these institutions because we believed they were safe spaces to learn and grow.

We urge leadership in higher education to:

  1. Publicly reject any current or future 287(g) agreements or ICE contracts.
  2. Affirm the college or university’s commitment to protect the rights of all members of the campus community.
  3. Defend the dignity and safety of every person who calls Ohio public campuses home.

Ohio’s public higher education institutions should remain places of inclusion – not fear.

Add your name. Protect our community.