Students march to University Hall to protest University of Illinois Chicago administration complicity in deportations on campus, Oct. 9, 2025.
The article below was first published in Fightback! News on Oct. 10, 2025. It has been lightly edited.
On Thursday, October 9, Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) at the University of Illinois Chicago organized an emergency protest after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement kidnapping of two women on campus.
The day before, around 2:50 p.m., students and staff watched as ICE agents dragged the two women out of a car, slammed them onto the pavement and kneeled on their backs as they bound their arms.
This violent abduction took place in front of the Student Services Building, which houses the Rigo Padilla-Pérez Undocumented Student Resource Center. The center offers services like Know Your Rights training, emergency planning support, campus and community resource workshops, policy updates and referrals to legal benefits and mental health services.
The UIC Police Department stood by and watched the kidnapping take place, refusing to release any public advisory regarding the detainments and presence of ICE on campus. Later in the day, it was reported that the two women were released from custody, but the events shook the UIC community, leaving students and staff scared and angry. At this time, UIC still has not made any public statements.
Over 200 students mobilized with the support of New Students for a Democratic Society (New SDS) at UIC, Latine Student Coalition (LSC), Union of Puerto Rican Students (UPRS), Jewish Student Collective (JSC), Anakbayan at UIC and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
Students took the quad demanding ICE off campus with chants like “No more violence, no more lies! Time for ICE to say goodbye!”
Students speak out against ICE
Katherine Campos, the secretary of the LSC and an intern at the university’s Latino Cultural Center, stated: “I know I am not alone when I say that I live in a constant state of fear. Fear that one day my parents will be taken from me. When one child of immigrants cries, all children of immigrants cry. We deserve to live without fear. We deserve to live. I know it’s scary to be living in times of violence, but we must be loud. We must resist.”
“And then I go out to see at least a dozen armed ICE officers blocking off 39th and Kedzie, rolling out a tank to terrorize my neighbors, using militarized tactical vehicles, helicopters, and then releasing tear-gassing and pepper spray on my neighbors and community members who were unarmed!” recounted Gianna Escareno, co-chair of the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA) and member of New SDS at UIC, on her experience with the standoff between ICE agents and community members on the Southwest Side.
Rodrigo Cortes Espinoza, a member of MeSA and an organizer from the Little Village/Pilsen area, shared his experience of speaking to the UIC Police Department: “They showed no concern for the people who were kidnapped nor any intention to share a mass email. This type of negligence will not stand. We demand that the university clearly state their position of defending students’ safety.”
Member of FRSO Gio Araujo told the crowd: “Hermanas, hermanos, right now is the time of open struggle, right now is the time where we leave the defensive and become the offensive. Right now we need to be standing up to these occupations. We need to be standing up to these troops. If these motherf–kers are taking our family members, we’re going to fight back! Right?”
Luna Fernanda stated: “So long as I have a voice, I will use it to speak for the people who need to be heard. We will not fall. I know that the oppressors can hear us. I hope the screams and cries of our people haunt them at night! No human being is illegal!”
The students finished with a march to University Hall to demand ICE off campus and sanctuary campus now!
At the end of the protest, organizers urged students to get involved with the student movement on campus.