UO community members call on university to protect international students

Hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and community members rallied in front of Johnson Hall on Friday in the wake of four students having their visas revoked. The rally, organized by UO YDSA, comes a little after a week since the news about the international students started trickling out. Organizers spoke of solidarity with international students and also came with demands for the university.

Of those being asked to self-deport, are two undergraduate students and two graduate students. The University says they did not alert federal authorities about these students and that these actions were taken wholy by the Department of Homeland Security for unspecified criminal charges. The UO also says that they are working with the international students to provide legal advice.

However their legal fees are not being picked up by the university, which is why a group of UO staff and faculty are running a fundraiser to support them. Organizers say so far they have been able to pay an invoice totaling $6,470 for one of the students.

“We demand that you use every legal tool at your disposal to support our students. We demand transparent communication about what steps you’re taking. We demand that you publicly condemn these deportation orders and work with legal experts to fight them,” Said Ella Hayden, a member of UO YDSA, in a message towards the university administration.

As part of their Sanctuary Campus Now campaign, UO YDSA has three core demands for the university – defend our students, defend free speech, and defend higher education. Organizers spoke to how the federal administration’s higher education cuts into departments labeled as DEI are a part of the same program of deporting students in that they want silence diversity in voices. Organizers are also calling for the UO admin to stop collecting and storing photos of protestors that could help DHS deport students.

Additionally organizers are asking the university to be more proactive in alerting students about ICE activity. They call on the university to use the UO Alert system to notify students via text and email when ICE agents are on or near campus.

As the speeches were going on, members of UO YDSA were walking around with a petition for supporters to sign on to their demands. Students could also check a box for ICE watch, where they will receive a mass text when ICE is spotted and they can mobilize as a group to defend against deportations.

UO YDSA says they will be holding a general assemly on Thursday of week 4, April 24, where they expect to have a response to their demands from the administration. At the assembly they will discuss and plan next steps to protect students.