Danette Heredia | Staff Writer
According to FIU Chief of Police Alexander Casas at an emergency Faculty Senate meeting, FIU PD voluntarily entered an agreement to collaborate with ICE and enforce immigration law on campus as part of the 287G(g) program.
The meeting, live-streamed over Zoom and coordinated by the Faculty Senate, allowed faculty to express grievances and concerns with ICE involvement on campus.
The program would deputize certain FIU police officers to administer specified immigration duties with the oversight of ICE and focus on “criminal aliens”.
Additionally, as part of the program, FIU PD would coordinate with ICE to execute judicial warrants and controversial administrative warrants. According to Chief Casas, FIU PD currently has access to education records such as a student’s current course schedule.
In their agreement with ICE, FIU Police signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), a document that describes the responsibilities and boundaries of each party, outlining the training each local officer would receive and their reach of power.
According to Madeline Baro, director of Media Relations, FIU PD has access like faculty, staff, administrators and other university officials. They may only access education records to the extent there is a legitimate education interest in the record or in case of an emergency.
Unlike ICE or other law enforcement agencies, they do not need a subpoena. Even when FIUPD accesses a student education record, officers must comply with protecting the information pursuant to FERPA. When and if executed, the Memorandum of Agreement with ICE does not change this protection.
Chief Casas noted that, while ICE would cover the expense of training FIU PD to conduct immigration law enforcement activities, the actual expense of executing the agreement would fall on FIU PD.
As a national law enforcement agency, ICE is able to come on campus and execute judicial and administrative warrants. Chief Casas, in his remarks, expressed the hope that entering this agreement would allow FIU PD to have more control over the execution of these warrants.
“I can’t control what ICE does. I can’t control what a state agency does…but if I don’t enter the agreement, I don’t even have the opportunity to say, ‘call us first,’” says Chief Casas.
The grievance that faculty continuously mentioned was the lack of concern for the safety of international students and faculty demonstrated by joining efforts with ICE. Additionally, multiple faculty members expressed concerns that FIU PD would lose the community’s trust by entering this agreement.
“I teach over 500 undergraduate students…they don’t feel safe. They don’t feel welcome. They are in my front office this morning concerned about coming to campus. I’m fielding phone calls every day about ‘I’m really scared to come to campus,’ or ‘I can’t focus on my work because I’m so worried about my mom being picked up by ICE,’” said Dr. Rachel Ann Ritchie, faculty member of the Psychology Department.
“When you pass somebody over to ICE detention, we lose control over what happens to that individual. They lose control, everybody loses control. …They indefinite detention without charges and warrantless arrests,” said Faculty Senator Erik Camayd-Freixas, explaining his perspective on the potential dangers of educational institutions working with an agency like ICE.
Casas emphasized that joining this agreement ensures student safety, through his control.
“What I’m here to tell you is if there’s anything related to immigration enforcement, I want to be the one to be interacting with our community because I can guarantee how that’s going to go,” said Casas.
“If I don’t sign the agreement, we open the door to other agencies. We haven’t been told to. We agreed to sign on,” continued Casas.
The meeting, originally scheduled from 1:30 PM to 2:30PM, was extended multiple times. Interim President Nuñez stayed with the faculty after multiple extensions. Interim President Nuñez expressed that she has full trust in FIU PD and Chief Casas.
Nevertheless, multiple Faculty Senators expressed their concerns were not with FIU PD, rather with ICE. Multiple faculty members expressed their appreciation and trust in Chief Casas and FIU PD’s reputation within the community.
The main concern, according to Faculty Senators, is how this agreement would erode that trust and create an environment of fear on campus. Before the meeting concluded, interim President Nuñez departed, abstaining from any goodbyes or parting words to the Faculty Senators.
A memorandum draft written by Faculty Senate stated “the FIU Faculty Senate opposes the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Florida International University (FIU) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because it goes against the university’s values of truth…, freedom…, and respect…. We call on the university leadership and the FIU Police Department to withdraw from the agreement immediately.” The bill passed unanimously.
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