The new leadership at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sparked concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers coming to college campuses, after overturning 2021 guidance that limited law enforcement operations at or near “protected areas” like schools, places of worship and health care facilities.
The Trump administration has ramped up enforcement of immigration laws along with deportations, and officials say they are prioritizing those with criminal records.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said in a Jan. 21 statement. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School in New York, says “previous presidential administrations had clearer priorities for where they would conduct immigration enforcement and they typically did not conduct enforcement in sensitive locations.”
College campuses, she says, “aren’t really the same as a sensitive location. I believe that by schools, it really meant K-12 education. ICE has gone on to college campuses prior to this administration to conduct enforcement operations if they had a specific person in mind that they were seeking. But it was uncommon. Now, I think there’s a lot more fear that ICE might come onto campuses because they’ve rescinded the sensitive locations memo and just shown in the last two months that ICE is empowered to conduct immigration enforcement operations anywhere and everywhere and at a high volume.”
Some experts expect the policy change to have a chilling effect on college communities.
“Right now, people may be a little bit more fearful to be involved on campus, to travel to classes,” says Michele Delgado, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. “ICE agents, wherever they go, make people uncomfortable because no one really knows what they’re there for as far as if they’re targeting someone (or) if they’re blindly just going to ask people questions.”
She says that will affect students on campus, who “should be there to only focus on getting an education, not looking over their shoulders wondering if someone is going to question them or try to detain them.”
[Read: International Student Services at U.S. Colleges: What to Know]
Where Are Immigration Officials Allowed on Campus?
ICE agents can be in public spaces, which differ by campus, experts note.
“If any member of the public could just walk into that space, kind of at any time, that’s probably going to be seen to be a public space,” Kelley-Widmer says. “For example, the campus where I work, there are public roads through campus. ICE could drive on those roads. There are buildings that are not locked during the day. … Anyone could walk into the building — not after hours, then it’s locked. (But then) there’s campuses in more urban areas that are locked key card entry all the time. That would not be a public space. That’s for members of the community only.”
Entering a private area, like a dorm room or residence hall, ordinarily requires a judge-signed warrant or consent from a student.
“ICE agents often only have an ICE warrant, not a judicial warrant (that was) issued by a court and signed by a judge,” Elizabeth Schmelzel, senior supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center and director of the University of Virginia Law School Immigration Clinic, wrote in an email. “An ICE warrant is not sufficient to enter a private space. It is therefore important for people to know that they can ask ICE agents to hold up whatever warrant they have to a window before opening doors to private spaces. Any warrant that is not signed by a judge is not sufficient to enter a private space.”
Delgado encourages colleges to make it clear which areas are private “and what areas are public, ?especially in office settings where student records are.”
How to Identify an ICE Agent
Some colleges, like Temple University in Pennsylvania, have reported incidents of individuals impersonating immigration officials on campus. That’s a crime.
“Any student that believes that this has happened should report it to their administrators,” says Nicholas Espiritu, deputy legal director at the National Immigration Law Center. “And their administrators should take all actions to ensure that any individual impersonating a law enforcement officer are both barred from the campus and any other further repercussions are taken to ensure that this doesn’t continue to happen.”
Identifying an official immigration officer from an imposter can be difficult. However, an authentic ICE agent should have a badge and typically wears a black shirt or vest that says “ICE” and “police,” Schmelzel says.
“Students can ask to see an agent’s badge and write down the badge number,” she adds.
[Read: How Undocumented Students Can Get College Financial Aid]
What Precautions Should Students Take?
Dan H. Berger, partner at Green and Spiegel LLC, an immigration law firm, advises individuals who are undocumented or have fragile immigration status to seek legal consultation, “even if they don’t think there’s any options.”
“Sometimes there are options that they don’t know about,” he says. And then they also will have a lawyer “who knows them if something does happen and knows their story. Sometimes it takes a little while to figure out somebody’s immigration history. … There are wonderful nonprofits all over the country.”
Experts recommend carrying valid immigration documents everywhere, on campus and off, including any information on pending status — although there’s debate about whether it should be the original or a copy.
“This can help minimize the time and potentially extent of interactions with immigration officials,” Espiritu says.
International students should ensure that their visas haven’t expired “and that they are complying with all federal immigration law, including any restrictions their visas may place on them,” Schmelzel says.
Experts also advise students to research their institutions’ policies. Some campuses have issued “toolkits” that detail what students, faculty and staff should do if they come in contact with an ICE officer.
“Some universities have been very forthcoming about what their policy is going to be, whether they are going to cooperate with ICE or not,” Kelley-Widmer says.
For instance, in February 2025 guidance, the University of Michigan said it will “not take affirmative steps to advance enforcement of federal immigration law” but “at the same time, a UM community member could be subject to criminal prosecution if they attempt to interfere, physically or otherwise, with the actions of a federal officer.”
Some schools “are not releasing their policy publicly, but they might be releasing it to their campus community,” Kelley-Widmer says. “A lot of times students don’t know what the policy is on campus and they’re afraid. … So students and their parents should find out what resources are available on campus. Just (because) you haven’t heard about them doesn’t mean that they don’t have a policy.”
What to Do if Approached By an ICE Agent
First, know your constitutional rights, experts say.
“Every person in the United States has constitutional rights regardless of their immigration status,” including protection from unreasonable search and seizure, the right to remain silent and a right to counsel, Kelley-Widmer says.
[Getting a U.S. Student Visa: What International Students Should Know]
“You don’t have to answer questions from immigration or other law enforcement agents,” she says. “You can say, ‘I do not wish to speak with you.’ Sometimes, especially for people without lawful status, that’s the safer way to go if your goal is to prevent deportation. Because the more you speak with an agent, the more likely they are to ask you questions about your status or national origin. … It takes some real bravery to decline to answer those questions, but sometimes that’s someone’s best option.”
Kelley-Widmer adds that in the U.S., “we don’t have the right to free counsel or counsel at government expense for immigration proceedings like we do in criminal proceedings. But you do have the right to speak with counsel.”
If you’re approached by an immigration official, it’s important to ask clearly whether you’re being detained or if you are free to leave, Espiritu says.
“If this is a voluntary interaction, then students should feel free to disengage,” he says. “Just make sure to establish that that’s the case. If they are in fact being detained in one way or another, even for purposes of questioning them, (being) very aware of what their rights are” is important.
And don’t resist or try to run if an officer ignores you “exerting your rights,” Delgado says. “That can really escalate the situation and put yourself in danger. So you want to avoid those things and allow your attorney to then challenge what happened in court versus you putting yourself in harm.”
Students can find constitutional rights guidelines and information online, such as on the websites of the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center, and attend immigration rights presentations.
“It’s really meaningful to go to one of those presentations in person because then you can ask questions, but also because then you’re surrounded by other people who care about these issues (and) maybe are impacted by these issues,” Kelley-Widmer says. “I think in these moments of fear and worry that you don’t feel 100% safe in your community and daily life, it’s really meaningful to connect with other people who are experiencing that and see that you do have community.”
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ICE on Campus: What You Need To Know originally appeared on usnews.com
