Northwestern students and Evanston community members joined Open Democracy Undergraduate at its first Civic Sunday of Winter Quarter to learn more about safety amid increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, civic advocacy and individual and community rights.
Open Democracy Undergraduate, alongside Open Democracy Evanston, said that calling members of Congress and helping draft a policy proposal for NU administration to protect international, immigrant and undocumented students from ICE activity could help students channel their passion for social justice into concrete change.
Co-president of ODU and Weinberg sophomore Jovana Luna said she hopes the event can act as a call to action for students who are angered by ICE in their communities.
“Despite there obviously being a lot of passion, I think sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with those strong feelings,” Luna said. “Our goal is to continue the momentum that was begun by the protest last Friday by another student organization called startswiththis.”
Luna added that she believes the key to making change is collective action rather than individual pressure.
The event kicked off with a presentation about ICE and immigrant rights advocacy for community members.
ODU member and SESP sophomore Diamond Jamal said the event was meant to serve as a space for NU community members to express their feelings towards ICE and channel their anger and fear into advocacy that caused concrete change.
“Recent actions by ICE have raised fear, anger and a lot of unanswered questions, especially for students and community members who feel directly impacted,” Jamal said. “Part of why we want to hold this Civic Sunday is to create a space where people can talk honestly about what’s happening, process those feelings together and learn how to respond in ways that are thoughtful and effective.”
Attendees learned about the history of ICE and its funding during both the Trump and Obama administrations.
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act has given ICE $85 billion, making it the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency. Under the Obama administration ten years ago, ICE’s annual budget was less than a tenth of what it is now, at just under $6 billion.
ODU Vice President of Membership and SESP junior Savannah Hsu explored how public pressure can directly affect legislative decisions related to anti-ICE action.
“Outreach and calling specifically is what we’re talking about here that can move the focus from the data and metrics to the actual, like, human impacts that these decisions are having on safety, dignity and values that we’re talking about,” Hsu said.
Hsu highlighted their script for calling Congress, emphasizing that it is important to mention specific changes and reforms students supported.
The presentation continued with a call to action on NU’s lack of formal, written policy related to ICE safety.
“We have very vague statements, which kind of tells us that our campus is not necessarily prioritizing the safety of our international community or undocumented community and our immigrant community,” Luna said.
Luna said they hope to draft a formal, written policy for the University that would require a judge’s warrant for access to private campus spaces and limit the sharing of student information to ICE agents.
Attendees were asked to think about how they’d like to be part of supporting the group’s advocacy efforts. Gayle Kemp, an Open Democracy Evanston board member attending the event, encouraged students to continue organizing and working together to make change.
“The students of Northwestern University have all the power in the world if they unite and they stand up against the powers that be,” Kemp said.
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