After the ICE abduction near campus on September 14, WCSU community members have since provided statements against ICE. 

A photo taken from within WCSU‘s Midtown campus of a suspected ICE vehicle with a blacked-out license plate. 

Students have begun to question the empty rhetoric of administration and elected officials after a lack of significant response to students’ concerns about dangers around campus. 

With the status of the man taken from Bates Place currently unknown, Danbury ICE could be anywhere. Several students spoke with The Echo about their perspective on the matter. 

“It breaks my heart to see people live in fear and hide when they are just trying to live their day-to-day lives,” said Tessa Marcus, a junior public health major.

“I sincerely believe that no one is illegal on stolen land. …[It’s] disappointing to see how history just repeats itself over and over again and how humans never learn from the past.”

One student expressed her nervousness with ICE presence, recounting an experience where she said her teacher was driving next to midtown and “witnessed ICE harass the people in the cars in front of and behind hers.”

“Both…were people of color,” the student said. “As a person of color, I worry that I could be targeted at any time, so I remain vigilant, especially when I drive around the Danbury area.” She went on to say that WCSU “needs to speak out publicly against the ICE kidnapping in the greater Danbury area and not just focus on those who attend the college…[to] facilitate more protests and take a more public stance on the current situation.” 

WCSU’s student body is not the only one speaking out. Composition professors Deatra Anderson and Ellen O’Donnell spoke to The Echo about their concerns for their students. 

“I wonder how many of them are sitting in my classroom worried about a family member, a roommate, a neighbor, or even themselves. I don’t want fear of immigration enforcement to become another barrier to students’ ability to learn and participate fully in college,” said Anderson. 

This past February, the Times wrote that the White House pulled ICE forces out of Minnesota following the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. A January PBS News Article describes the outrage that followed.

“It should be understood by all who are outraged that Minnesota forced the retreat of ICE, not through levers of law or through the power of either Governor Walz or Mayor Frey, but rather by the will of the people,” asserted O’Donnell.

O’Donnell made note of how communities have been able to push ICE out before:

“Minnesotans stemmed the assault through one enormous act of sustained courage. Protests, populating city blocks in extraordinary numbers, finally caused retreat…where is that moment in Danbury?”

In addition to the student and staff body across campus, The Echo spoke with WCSU’s Student Action Union, an up and coming club on campus focused on amplifying student voices. SAU President, Ian Hendrie, spoke about his frustrations with administration’s lack of response:

“I think WCSU should clearly delineate its public borders because, within that space, there is no ICE jurisdiction. That would make a lot of students and civilians feel safer knowing [that] as soon as they cross that public threshold, they are safe on campus.” 

Another student expressed their frustrations with university response in a statement, wanting WCSU to address the ICE presence around campus.

“It’s almost as if I hear nothing about ICE from WestConn—which is so jarring considering our large population of immigrants [and] people from immigrant families. Why is nobody saying anything? Why has there been no PSA to the entire university? It feels like an oversight, but it simply cannot be an oversight. I know that the administration knows.”

SAU comptroller, Jasper Haddad, decried ICE presence not only around Danbury but at sister school SCSU as well. 

“Immigration and Customs Enforcements, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, have shown their intent to inflict violence and terror among our communities. I remain deeply concerned by their presence and proximity to Western…and their involvement with the kidnapping of a student at Southern,” he said. 

Haddad went on to describe the brutality of ICE’s actions towards community members, claiming that a community member was hospitalized after being tased by an ICE officer. A Connecticut Public article (Connecticut Public reported) confirmed this, reporting that the man had been kicked in the head, noting that DUFI has “heard accounts of ICE agents ‘pushing peaceful bystanders,’ tackling community members, and using pepper spray.” 

“ICE has been clearly racially targeting people and [has] show[n] no intention to minimize their violence,” said Haddad. “Students should not have to worry about these potential threats. It leaves me to question the true response from the state and the city itself. The remarks from Blumenthal, Lamont, and Alves have been minimal and lackluster at best.”

SAU President Hendrie urged the school to encourage and assist student protests and anti-ICE events, adding that “even a small fund to assist undocumented students and/or their families would be huge.”

“President Bernal and Mayor Alves need to not just show up to these events for their scared community, they need to do something,” said Hendrie. “We’re not asking for them to stop ICE directly, but they seem unwilling to even try to help the people they supposedly stand with; actions over words.” 

Mayor Alves’ office was reached out to on September 15, but they did not provide comment.

“This is the reality we are facing,” says SAU Comptroller Haddad. “Politicians have made their intentions of sitting back and waiting for elections, all while students face these fears on a day-to-day basis. I am urging staff and administration at this campus to pay attention to what is occurring in the community. Do not sit idly while ICE makes their intentions and threats clear.”

Students who witness ICE presence in Danbury can also call (475) 237-7351 to speak to Danbury Unites for Immigrants. Check out DUFI’s Instagram page for more updates, sightings, and information. 

Any students, faculty, or community members willing to share tips, statements, or experiences can contact The Echo at pubs@wcsu.edu.