11 Florida universities working with ICE on immigration enforcement

Public universities in Florida have agreed to help enforce federal immigration laws.

Police departments at 11 universities have signed agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the Trump administration combat illegal immigration on campus, the College Fix reports. The partnerships, known as 287(g) agreements, are named after a section of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act.

Participating schools include Florida International University (FIU), University of North Florida, Tallahassee State College, Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of South Florida and University of West Florida.

Under the agreement, campus police officers will have power to question people about their immigration status during routine stops, and to share the information with ICE if they encounter illegal immigrants. 

However, the officers must receive training from ICE to properly question suspected illegal immigrants. Each university police department will decide how many officers it wants to enroll in the 40-hour online training course. 

The agreements follow a February order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to campus police departments to enter agreements with ICE to improve immigration enforcement. 

“By allowing our state agents and law enforcement officers to be trained and approved by ICE, Florida will now have more enforcement personnel deputized to assist federal partners. That means deportations can be carried out more efficiently, making our communities safer as illegal aliens are removed,” DeSantis said. 

Some Florida International professors and students protested the decision earlier this month.  

“Things are very uncertain, and there is a lot of fear, just because of the fact that FIU is an international university,” said Bayan Abedulazis, president of the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter. 

He told The Guardian that some students “are directly coming from out of the country, and they’ve just kind of detached from a lot of these spaces, like SJP or the like, because they don’t want to be caught or have risk for themselves or their families.” 

Other officials, including the school’s police chief, defended the decision, saying it’s better to have campus police interact with students rather than ICE officials. 

“I can’t control what ICE does. But if I don’t enter the agreement, I don’t have the opportunity to say, ‘Call us first, let us deal with our community,’” Chief Alexander Casas told the Miami Herald. 

Rogelio Tovar, chair of FIU’s board of trustees, also defended the partnership.  

“No student should be fearful if they’re here legally and they’re in compliance with the law,” he said.