ICE Recruiting at UM-Dearborn Career Expo Sparks Calls for Protests

Reena Hamad, News Section Editor

Photo//Reena Hamad

Calls to organize peaceful protests at the University of Michigan-Dearborn have been sparked by concerns among faculty, staff, and students about The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruiters planning to attend the Criminal Justice and Nonprofit Career Expo on November 5, 2025 in the Renick University Center. 

ICE will be among roughly 35 anticipated organizations at this event, which is aimed at students seeking internships and other career opportunities with local, state, and federal agencies, as well as nonprofits and law schools. 

ICE and Customs and Border Protection have been among the law-enforcement agencies participating in this campus event since at least 2021. This year, UM-Dearborn Career Services contacted about 75 organizations, including all agencies that have taken part in prior years. Despite that continuity, students, faculty, and staff have raised concerns about ICE’s reinvitation in light of recent incidents involving U.S. citizens, permanent residents, visa holders, international students, and undocumented community members alike.

Dr. Amy Brainer, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and faculty advisor to the Pride organization on campus, voiced many of these concerns, saying that “inviting ICE to a job fair normalizes it as an employer during a period of mass deportations and escalating violence against immigrants, international students, and people of color.” She notes that some students in Pride, like many students across campus, have “loved ones in ICE detention while others  have been racially profiled and harassed by ICE. Our stance against ICE is as personal as it is political.”

Fears for students and peers were echoed by Pride member Meg Brown who stated that she personally knows several students struggling amidst this federal crackdown and ICE being hosted on campus would be “a slap in the face to those students and the trauma they are experiencing.” Colleague Noelle Ditty affirmed these worries in adding that “For Pride and other student orgs, this sudden encounter with ICE on our campus is a trial by fire, a test to see whether we are willing and able to protect our shared community against those who seek to divide it.” 

Campus community concerns about ICE’s presence intensified after reports that federal immigration agents were seen across Dearborn Heights on October 30, when at least two Arab American men were taken into federal custody, one of whom was later released after providing proof of U.S. citizenship. TCD News says that it is still unclear how many people were ultimately detained or what led to Thursday’s enforcement actions.

Students received a link to submit anonymous statements of stance regarding ICE on campus. As of midday Friday, October 31, 130 responses opposed ICE’s presence on campus and four were in support. Many of those who do not oppose ICE’s recruitment presence maintain the stance that, as a legitimate federal agency, ICE is appropriate for the university to host as a career path option. 

University spokesperson Kristin Palm noted that ICE recruits at colleges and universities across the state and reported no safety concerns or ICE-related incidents. Palm also emphasized that, “As a public university, we cannot exclude qualified participants from this event. As a federal law enforcement agency with a long history of participating in this event, ICE meets the criteria for participation.” 

She further underscored that, in accordance with the University of Michigan’s “Guidance Related to Federal Immigration Enforcement,” recognizing UM-Dearborn as a public university also means recognizing that “law enforcement officers may enter and exercise their enforcement powers in public areas of campus without a warrant at any time, whether when they are here for an event or for any other reason.”

Protest organizers urge faculty to make arrangements that would allow students choosing not to attend campus due to ICE presence such as moving class online or excusing absences on this day. 

UM-Dearborn’s campus community is in a distinctive position in that administrators recognize students’ right to peaceful protest, which has not been the case on all campuses. Joining students at institutions across the country, including efforts by the National Lawyers Guild to halt recruitment at their law schools by ICE, Department of Homeland Security, and Customs and Border Patrol “in response to the ongoing cruel and unconstitutional raids on immigrants and their communities,” many UM-Dearborn students plan to take part in a peaceful action during the November 5 career fair.