Following President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies began a crackdown on immigration enforcement in what it called “enhanced targeted operations,” according to ICE’s website. ICE has mainly been targeting sanctuary cities, such as Chicago, which refuse to cooperate with federal agencies on immigration enforcement.
Chicago Police Department (CPD) Superintendent Larry Snelling said at least 100 people had been arrested in the Chicago area as of Jan. 28 as part of the immigration sweeps, according to a report from ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
How is NEIU Supporting Students?
In a Jan. 21 welcome message at the start of the Spring 2025 semester, NEIU President Dr. Katrina Bell-Jordan and Provost Dr. R. Shayne Cofer said, “We are committed to supporting our students academically and financially and encouraging their health and wellness. We recognize the challenges many of our students face—with/in school, personally, and beyond—and we are deeply committed to supporting them every step of the way, with safety, security, and well-being at the heart of everything we do.”
The emails also included a link to NEIU’s Undocumented Student Resources page, which can be accessed at neiu.edu/undocumented.
“The best thing we can do is stay calm, and stay informed,” Dr. Bell-Jordan said to NEIU’s Faculty Senate on Jan. 28. “We are all here to do our part and care for our students.”
Dr. Bell-Jordan also spoke to the Faculty Senate about an administrative team meeting the day before, which went over NEIU’s policies and procedures regarding immigration status. She said that academic department chairs would be responsible for passing resources and information relevant to NEIU’s policies on to students and faculty.
The following is an excerpt from an email sent to students and faculty in the Sociology Department:
I want to take a moment to reaffirm that the Sociology program values and supports all of its members. We are deeply committed to the University’s mission as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) and Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), as well as to our program’s focus on social justice.
As part of this commitment, I’d like to share some important resources provided by NEIU that may be useful to you or those you know. These resources are continuously updated, so I encourage you to review them:
In addition, I’ve attached a PDF that outlines NEIU’s approach and process regarding immigration status. While some of the information overlaps with the hyperlinks above, the PDF contains additional details that you may find helpful.
Here are a few key takeaways:
- Students have the right not to sign any documents without legal counsel and retain their Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent.
- NEIU’s Police Department is prohibited by Illinois law from engaging in immigration enforcement, except in cases involving a criminal warrant.
- FERPA restricts the sharing of personal student information with third parties without consent.
- As a public university, many areas of NEIU’s campus are open to the general public. Federal immigration enforcement officers may enter these public spaces without a warrant. However:
- Officers must have a criminal arrest or search warrant signed by a judge to lawfully enter restricted, nonpublic areas without consent.
- Administrative warrants, which are not signed by a judge, do not authorize officers to enter restricted areas without consent.
Below is a free app that the Independent has identified as one potential resource.
- Know Your Rights 4 Immigrants App: This app reads out a person’s legal rights in English to ICE or other law enforcement officers. It has instructions in 17 different languages and can send an emergency call to a person’s designated contacts. It is currently available for free on the Apple App Store and will soon be available on Android as well. Below is its description as written on the App Store:
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- “Empower yourself with Know Your Rights 4 Immigrants app. Use this app to prepare, learn and respond if you are at risk of being detained by deportation agents.”
The following link is to a folder administered by the Independent with publicly available resources for undocumented persons and their allies. Suggestions for additions to this folder can be sent to the Independent’s Editor-in-Chief at independent-eic@neiu.edu.