Hundreds of students gathered on the San Diego State campus Thursday afternoon for a walkout protest in support of the undocumented community.
Similar to recent protests around San Diego County, this campus walkout stems from the recent influx of ICE raids under the new White House administration.
President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders fulfilling his campaign promises to crack down on immigration and deport millions. During Trump’s first two weeks in office, nearly 6,000 people have been deported — double the daily average under President Joe Biden.
The protest was coordinated by three SDSU organizations: Education Without Borders, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx De Aztlan and the Chicano/Chicana Association.
According to the Instagram flyer, the protest’s main objectives were for SDSU to establish itself as a sanctuary campus safe from ICE, increase administration transparency and publish a response regarding recent deportation acts.
“One [goal] is to bring awareness about the ICE raids and mass deportations that are affecting our communities,” said Xochitl Ozomatli Vazquez, co-President of MEChA. “I have a lot of loved ones and neighbors that are being directly impacted by that. With the club that I’m a part of, we also have undocumented students who show up and so they put the idea out there for action and it got a lot of interest.”
Out of these requests, Vazquez organized the protest and began promotion just one day before it was set.
“We knew that we might not get a ginormous crowd, but we also knew that there were a lot of people that were interested or wanted to do something on campus,” Vazquez said. “I’m very happy with everyone who’s shown out. It was a very last-minute outreach, so, for that, I’m proud that this many people care enough to change their plans for today.”
Participants were instructed to walk out of class and meet for a demonstration at Hepner Hall at noon, from which the group marched to the Student Union for speeches, personal testimonies and a performance from the Ballet Folklorico Xochipilli SDSU.
Following this second demonstration, the group held a silent sit-in in front of Manchester Hall, where President Adela de la Torre’s office is located.
According to two-time SDSU alumnus Javier Diego Jacinto, this last demonstration was meant to humanize undocumented immigrants.
“We wanted to show up as we are,” Jacinto said. “Plainly as who we are, as human beings, in silence, respectfully … We wanted to do the sit-in for undocumented students who are in the shadows, to feel as if they have someone, a friend, a colleague, a community member that’s looking out for them.”
Rules for the protest were read at each new location, with water bottles and flyers passed out throughout the event’s duration from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Jacinto was also a key figure in the event, citing anti-immigration rhetoric as a common concern and the main motivator of his activism.
“Often the anti-immigration rhetoric that is being shared is ‘immigrants or undocumented immigrants are criminals. They’re here to disrupt negatively — stealing, killing, raping,’” Jacinto said. “… The university continues to be silent. There’s a lack of transparency between administrators and students, and that’s why we’re here.”
As spearheaded by Jacinto, “undocumented, unafraid” and “stand up, fight back” became key chants in the demonstrations.
“I feel that it is important for the university to recognize, to see us, to hear us,” Jacinto said. “To see us as more than just merely a number, a statistic. We want to make sure that the University understands that we are scared, that we are afraid.”
Though SDSU has been federally designated as a Hispanic-serving institution for over a decade, many Hispanic protesters reported feeling inadequately served.
“I was an undocumented student here at SDSU, and I felt the lack of help from this institution,” an SDSU alum said. “When I was studying here, it was hard for me to access help, getting career services, getting grants, accessing internships.”
The alum felt that the Undocumented Resource Center’s ability to help undocumented students on campus has been lacking. Others claimed that the center’s budget has been cut over the years, though this has not been reported by SDSU.
“I didn’t have access to the same things my peers did. I had to fight 10 times harder,” the alum said. “At a very early age, I became incentivized to fight for my own rights, fight for things for other undocumented people because I saw the lack and the need that our community had.”
While this was some students’ first time protesting, others were experienced. Students Jill Roth and Cameron Braun are also no strangers to community activism.
Despite the uncertainty, the turnout had the crowd hopeful for change and a stronger community on campus.
“You see it in their faces, in their way of being,” Jacinto said. “We saw tears in the crowd when individuals were sharing about their own individual stories. To be able to see that being projected and then feeling it and taking it to heart—I think that is how we are able to measure the impact.”
