A UF organization is fighting for immigrant rights — and members are risking their attendance and grades for their mission.
Students For Socialism at UF organized a walk out Thursday afternoon to protest the UF Police Department’s 287(g) contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The program allows the federal government to partner with local police to enforce immigration regulations. This authorizes officers to interview people about their immigration status, check U.S. Department of Homeland Security databases, detain people until ICE takes custody of them and issue a notice that begins a person’s removal process.
UF first partnered with ICE in April, signing a 287(g) agreement following the detainment of a UF international student who was arrested for driving under an expired license.
Students for Socialism called on students to walk out of class and to Turlington Plaza at 1 p.m. to protest the partnership.
“UF admin has ignored student’s demands to end the 287(g) agreement, which allows UFPD to use racial profiling and deny us legal due process,” SFS wrote on Instagram. “This is a threat to our black, brown and international students, as well as everyone on campus.”
The protest garnered dozens of people holding signs reading statements like, “We need education, not family separation,” and, “Students have no borders, no ICE on UF campus.”
Jennifer Perez, a 26-year old UF materials science and engineering graduate student, is the president of SFS. She said she organized the protest because of threats to diversity in the student body — caused by DEI funding cuts and immigration enforcement measures, both at UF and across Florida.
“What we’re organizing for is to have a better life, not only for students, but also residents of Gainesville,” Perez said.
Perez said she hopes to educate people and raise awareness around the 287(g) program. Most students do not know the University Police Department has signed the agreement, she said, and over the past week, her organization has distributed over a thousand educational flyers across campus.
“Students don’t need more police officers that are armed on campus,” Perez said. “We just need better education, better resources.”
Nyeli Reyes, an 18-year old UF political science freshman, attended the protest because of her personal connection to the issue. She comes from a family of Mexican immigrants who have been affected by the increasing force of ICE agents, she said. Her family members have been questioned in her hometown, Los Angeles, and been “terrorized, basically, by ICE agents over there,” she said.
Reyes held a sign that said, “History has its eyes on us.”
Reyes said she thought UPD’s contract with ICE is “really disgusting.” People come to the U.S., especially when attending a university, to be included and find a safe space, she said. Now, immigrant students at UF won’t have that space anymore, she said.
“I just hope that people realize that all of these policies — they aren’t far from you,” Reyes said.
Gainesville residents joined in protest, too.
Veronica Rodriguez, a member of the Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative, collaborated with Students for Socialism to organize the protest.
Rodriguez believes education is important for everyone, she said, and the agreement could interrupt certain students’ studies.
“When you create an obstacle, and for students not to be able to feel safe to come to your school campus, a fear of being profiled,” she said. “It just creates one extra obstacle for them to be able to pursue higher education.”
Kayla Arora, a 15-year old UF education freshman, said she attended because she is passionate about immigrants’ rights on campus.
“It’s disgusting, what UF is doing,” Arora said. “They’re quite literally using immigrant students’ money to fund deportation of these same immigrant students.”
Arora said the protest was important because any publicity is beneficial to the cause. This display can help show university police and administration that students care about this issue, she said.
“Let’s face it, they obviously got pressured from the state,” Arora said.
Contact Angelique Rodriguez at arodriguez@alligator.org. Follow her on X @angeliquesrod.
Angelique is a first-year journalism major and the Fall 2025 graduate school reporter. In her free time, she'll probably be reading, writing, hanging out with her friends or looking through the newest fashion runway shows on Vogue.
