The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) petitioned the university to become a “sanctuary campus” to protect international students at a Nov. 14 rally on Library Mall.
Speakers addressed a crowd of around 70 attendees, expressing disapproval of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids nationwide and lack of action by campus administration. YDSA distributed Know Your Rights pamphlets.
The petition’s demands include asking Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to reaffirm free expression, provide legal funds for students facing deportation, retract UW-Madison’s 2024 institutional neutrality policy and publicly reaffirm UW-Madison Police Department’s 2019 Immigration Enforcement Policy to create a sanctuary campus.
YDSA and rally attendees expressed fear that if ICE activity becomes more prominent in Madison, it will eventually arrive on campus and disrupt student life.
Attendees and speakers expressed fear for themselves and loved ones of being arrested by ICE due to racial profiling.
“I’m trying to embrace my heritage more for my mom and family,” Bell Malato, a UW-Madison student who is also a Mexican U.S. citizen, told The Daily Cardinal. “It’s hard to be yourself, be a person and be proud of your heritage when at any point you can get killed or taken for it.”
Speakers also expressed concern over the deportation of pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses, notably Columbia University encampment leader Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation earlier this year.
“It makes it harder for [international students] to speak out because I mean, they deserve their First Amendment rights too,” YDSA Co-Chair Lochlan Cook said.
At this time, there has been limited ICE activity in Madison and no reports of ICE on UW-Madison’s campus. The federal government has deported students at Tufts University and the University of Minnesota, while campuses like Wesleyan University have adopted sanctuary campus policies.
Bev, a guest speaker at the rally who declined to share her last name, has been politically active on campus since the pro-Palestinian encampment in May 2024. She expressed concern for UW-Madison immigrant and international students because of ICE activity in the Midwest and fears UW-Madison is next.
“To see it right on your doorstep — which Chicago and Milwaukee are — it’s hard to put words,” she said. “It’s a call to action to get organized and get connected with your community members, and to get connected to the people who you know, who are immigrants or who are vulnerable to these kinds of attacks.”
In order to make the attendees feel safe during the rally, a handful of YDSA members wore construction vests for attendees to easily spot them and report suspicious or disruptive behavior in the crowds.
Common Council District 8 candidate Bobby Gronert also attended the rally as a member of YDSA. He told the Cardinal he is angered by the policies implemented by the U.S. government.
“[Immigrants] are key members of our economy and they do not get what they deserve,” he said. “We need to have a society where it’s understood that this sort of behavior, this sort of way of thinking about your fellow workers and citizens is not a conductive society and is unacceptable.”
