This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at . is Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education and TESOL at
Since March 2025, and colleges, , have signed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
These partnerships to so they can receive training and 鈥減erform certain functions of an immigration officer.鈥�
The agreements give campus police officers to question students who are about their legal right to be in the country. Campus police officers can arrest students if the officers have 鈥渞eason to believe the alien to be arrested is in the United States in violation of law.鈥� Campus police can also check federal immigration databases to see students鈥� immigration status.
The list of universities in the state that have signed on to these agreements includes leading research universities such as Florida Atlantic University and , or FIU, where we work as professors of education. We are unaware of any school in the Florida state university system that has publicly said they will not sign an agreement.
In the past few decades, the U.S. government has classified universities as 鈥� that are protected from aggressive immigration enforcement. This means that schools, like churches and hospitals, have until recently been generally considered off-limits for immigration enforcement officers.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump revoked these long-standing .
A shift on campus
As scholars, we study relationships between , from how to .
As professors, we teach many students who are immigrants or are from foreign countries who come to the U.S. for their studies, as well as many who are children of immigrants.
As a result of these new initiatives, we are seeing and personally experiencing an intensifying climate of uncertainty and anxiety on our campus. These policies are worsening many of our students鈥� sense of belonging.
Understanding the changes
Trump鈥檚 approach to immigration enforcement is supported by the program, a 1996 amendment to the of 1952. This amendment to the wide-ranging immigration law lets ICE to local state police.
In February 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis directed state universities to enter into 287(g) partnerships with ICE and to 鈥� officers to enforce federal immigration laws on school campuses.
ICE does not have blanket access to student records, under federal privacy law. But 287(g) agreements create new pathways for information to flow through campus police encounters, effectively lowering the barrier between university data and federal immigration enforcement.
There are no official reports of FIU or other Florida university campus police officers arresting students because of their immigration status. A few college students, though, have been detained off-campus by local police agencies and .
FIU鈥檚 communications team wrote in a statement to The Conversation: 鈥淟ast year FIU Police signed a 287(g) memorandum of agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as have other state university, local and state law enforcement agencies in Florida. The 287(g) memorandum of agreement for Florida International University is .鈥�
鈥淪ince signing the agreement, there have been no immigration-related enforcement actions on our campuses,鈥� FIU鈥檚 statement continued.
Florida Atlantic University did not respond to a request for comment.
In January 2026, an immigration activist recorded FIU鈥檚 chief of police that if ICE requests campus police鈥檚 help, they would comply.
As FIU faculty members, we have not received any explicit guidance on what to do if an ICE agent comes to campus, or if a campus police officer tries to arrest someone for immigration reasons in our classrooms.
that there was 鈥渕uch confusion, much angst, and much misinformation鈥� about the agreement.
Other universities have emphasized the need to comply .
Some Florida university officials have said that campus or conduct raids as part of their with federal authorities.
Heightened stress and anxiety
As educators, our work has shifted over this past academic year from providing instruction to focusing more on mentoring our students as whole people. Our students are questioning how much their university supports them.
Daily, we observe how Trump鈥檚 immigration policies, including on certain countries, heighten stress for all of our students, regardless of their immigration status. Our international and immigrant students have told us they are fearful of the government鈥檚 increased surveillance.
One graduate student shared that he was hesitant to leave his dorm room and participate in any campus activities for fear of possible arrest because of his immigration status.
Another student said he would not leave the U.S. to visit his mother who was sick with cancer for fear he would not be let back into the country. His mother has since passed without his presence.
Many students, including one international doctoral student and father to young children, are unable to return to their homeland and visit their relatives or conduct research due to placed upon in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.
These new policies have also prompted student and faculty protests across Florida.
Some Florida Atlantic University students in Boca Raton on Feb. 25, 2026, to protest the school鈥檚 agreement with ICE.
Florida State University students called on administrators in February 2026 to set up a 鈥�,鈥� which would limit FSU partnerships with ICE.
We are trying to create more opportunities for open dialogue and for sharing students鈥� emotions and experiences related to these policies. We are also helping students find resources, including legal aid, that could help them or their peers if they have a negative encounter with ICE or campus police.
Refuge or risk
Universities, especially in conservative states such as Florida, may continue to market themselves as , mobility and global belonging. This is programs and as some students experience heightened surveillance, visa cancellations, detention or deportation.
One of our FIU graduate students recently explained how these policies are affecting their day-to-day life.
鈥淚 just want to finish my studies as soon as possible and go back to my country. I feel unwelcome and unsafe on campus. I don鈥檛 want to join campus activities anymore because students can be targeted there,鈥� the student said. 鈥淚 no longer trust campus police officers and won鈥檛 ask them for help, even if I need it. I am afraid I will be profiled even though I am here legally.鈥�
When campus police are folded into federal immigration work, we believe that universities cannot claim they offer more refuge than risk.
, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, and , Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education and TESOL, .
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