Union workers rallied in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, days after an international graduate student was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
United Electrical locals from across the country had already gathered for a conference this weekend when they heard the news. United Electrical represents several graduate student unions including those of Stanford, MIT and the University of Minnesota.
Around 100 members marched to Marquette Plaza, adjacent to a federal immigration field office.
“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. As a union we remain committed to protecting our international graduate workers,” said Abaki Beck, president of GLU-UE Local 1105, the union of graduate employees at the University of Minnesota.
Carl Rosen leads the union that represents many graduate school student workers across the country. He said international students play a critical role at their institutions and in the national economy, and he’s worried they’ll be discouraged from applying to U.S. schools.
“What they’re going to do is cut all these folks off from coming and frankly who would want to come here?” said Rosen, president of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. “What does that say about America that people aren’t going to want to come here? It’s just shameful.”
No information has come out publicly about the University of Minnesota student or why they were taken into custody on Thursday.
University leaders on Friday shared only that the student was at an off-campus residence when ICE removed them. A college dean reported the individual studied at the Carlson School of Management.
“As we would in any situation, we are following the lead of the student and respecting their request for privacy,” said University spokesperson Jake Ricker. He added the University of Minnesota cannot share more because of state and federal student privacy laws.
Ricker said the U of M is providing support to the student, without specifying the type of support.
UMN Graduate Labor Union president Abaki Beck speaks as members of the UMN Graduate Labor Union and other unions as they gather to protest the ICE detainment of a U of M graduate student on the steps of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, March 29. As a union we remain committed to protecting our international graduate workers,” said Beck. (Nicole Neri for MPR News)
“There’s an increased number of international workers who have been detained or who are facing deportation orders and are choosing to self deport so that they don’t have to be detained in ICE facilities,” said Beck.
Attendees at the Saturday protest chanted the names of other students recently detained by ICE who include Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University, and Rumeysa Ozturk.
Ozturk is a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University who was detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents earlier this week. Her lawyer said the arrest came without explanation.
At a separate rally at Minneapolis’ Powderhorn Park commemorating Land Day, U of M senior Noora Ahmed said the backlash against international students who have expressed solidarity with Palestine is creating fear among student organizers.
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“It’s really worrisome because we want everyone to show up for human rights, to show up and speak their mind,” she said. “At the same time, they fear for their safety, of getting deported, of getting suspended, of getting their degree revoked.”
Ahmed is involved with Students for Justice in Palestine and the divest coalition at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She wants to see U of M leadership better defend students’ right to speech.
“We’re trying to protect ourselves as much as we can, trying to have ‘Know Your Rights’ campaigns and teach-ins, yet there’s only so much that we could do on our end,” she said.
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