UI students and community members held an event on the Main Quad as part of “A Day Without Immigrants.” The movement aimed to highlight the contributions and importance of immigrant communities in the United States.
Several attendees shared that they heard about the event through La Casa, the Latinx cultural house. I-CAUSE, a student organization dedicated to representation and resource gathering for undocumented students, also promoted the event on social media.
“On February 3, we take a stand. No work. No school. No spending,” the post said. “Our immigrant and undocumented communities are the backbone of this country. To show our power, we’re coming together to boycott for a day—because without us, everything stops.”
Participants began gathering at the north end of the Main Quad around midday. Music played through a speaker as attendees danced, chanted and conversed.
“I just think this shows how loving our culture is, and how we’re so willing to stand up for other people and come together and have a good time,” said Stephanie Bedolla, junior in ACES. “I think it’s a great show of solidarity.”
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Some participants held flags or cardboard signs, many of which criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Sofia Rivera, second-year graduate student in the School of Social Work, held a cardboard sign that read, “School is for education, not deportation.”
“I just think that schools should be safe places for students to be able to learn,” Rivera said. “It should be a safe environment, not for them to be asked whether (or not) they’re documented.”
On Jan. 21, the Trump administration rescinded a policy restricting ICE enforcement in sensitive locations, including schools and churches. On Tuesday, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem ordered the termination of deportation protection for an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans.
“With the recent actions by Trump, discrimination against immigrants, I think now more than ever we need to come together as a community and show our solidarity,” said Natalie Angel, sophomore in LAS and program director for the Latino Student Association. “We’re in a time where we’re threatened just by being Latinos.”
Angel said her Colombian heritage played a role in her participation, and she had a personal connection to the cause.
“You never know who might be most affected by this,” Angel said. “It could be your neighbor, your aunt, your relatives. (We’re) trying to spread the word so that people know their rights, and they aren’t deported by this.”
According to a January memorandum, the White House ordered the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand a holding center at the naval base in Guantánamo Bay, which ICE will use to detain undocumented immigrants before the return process to their respective countries.
“We have final removal orders on many individuals in this country,” Noem said in an interview with NBC. “We’ll continue to work through people that are breaking the law, that are a danger to these communities, and use the detention centers that we have set up in order to facilitate this in an orderly way.”
Kailey Reyes, senior in LAS, spoke about the challenges facing the Latino community regarding recent immigration policies on undocumented individuals and their families.
“This is beyond trying to take care of our country,” Reyes said. “It’s getting rid of everyone that makes up America.”
The event took place from noon until 2 p.m., after which participants gradually dispersed.
“Even though we’re going through a very difficult time in our community, we’re showing up here in good spirits,” Angel said. “This is how we show our support for one another and that we are here for each other despite everything that’s going on.”
