A couple hundred UC Santa Cruz students marched on campus Tuesday against violent actions by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies in Minneapolis and around the U.S. as well as against President Donald Trump’s military attack on Venezuela last month.
The rally was organized by the Revolutionary Student Organization. Students gathered outside the Science & Engineering Library and made their way to McHenry Library, the most popular place to study on campus.
Event organizers and people attending handed out water and chalk for people to write messages on sidewalks and roadways.
Chants such as, “Se ve. Se escucha. Estamos en la lucha!”, “The people united will never be divided!” and “Tear down the border wall. Make them crumble. Make them fall!” echoed from the crowd. Students held homemade signs reading “Nadie es ilegal,” “End mass deportation” and “Abolish ICE.”
“I hope other students realize what’s happening,” said Atli Bautista, a fourth-year student, who encouraged her fellow students to reach out to elected officials and ask them to stand up to ICE. “We have a lot more power than we think.”
For Ellie Rivera, a first-year student, the rally wasn’t just a political movement, it was personal.
“My dad got taken away by ICE when I was 5 years old. It was hard not to have him in my life for a bit,” she said. “He’s now a citizen, but it takes a lot of money to become a citizen.”
After two hours, campus police drove past the area and the demonstration hastily disbanded due to fear of protestors potentially being detained.
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