AFT, AFT New Jersey prepare members to respond to ICE on campus and in communities

With the fall semester already underway, Jennifer S. Higgins, the president of AFT New Jersey, wants educators to know what to do if they see Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at schools in the Garden State.

Higgins suspects that the political fervor heading into the midterm elections will make New Jersey college campuses-where there are several AFT-led voter registration and information sessions-a target for ICE as students return. Although she has not heard of any ICE activity on New Jersey campuses yet, Higgins believes the federal agents' presence could be a way for the Trump administration to intimidate voters and suppress votes.

"The current administration doesn't want college students to vote," she said.

In preparation for the possibility of increased ICE activity near or on college campuses, AFT New Jersey and the AFT hosted a rapid-response training Aug. 12 in New Brunswick, N.J. The training went over ways members can protect students, families and their communities against ICE while avoiding confrontation and escalation.

"At the end of the day, I'd rather have people overprepared and not have to use the skills that they learned at this training, than not be prepared at all," Higgins said.

The jam-packed day began with an overview of the immigration enforcement landscape during President Donald Trump's second term and a review of crucial information we should all be aware of-for example, ICE officers cannot access nonpublic areas of campus without permission from an authorized campus official. Breaking into small groups, the participants soon got to work examining what resources, policies and protocols their campuses already had in place and identifying gaps they could fill through bargaining. Crucial questions arose: Did their schools have designated officials to contact quickly when ICE agents were spotted? Did staff and faculty have the authority to ask for a judicial warrant, or were all communications with ICE agents to be handled by designated officials? What should faculty and staff do while waiting for the appropriate person to arrive?

The afternoon sessions delved into case studies describing a variety of ICE encounters. Participants started with identifying ICE agents and vehicles and considering how to report them. Then they moved into more intense scenarios, such as agents trying to enter a residence hall to detain a student, a professor on a visa being detained in a parking lot near campus, and a family member being detained at a graduation ceremony. Each case study came with discussion questions, from "Who should verify the identities and authority of the officers?" to "What support can the faculty and staff unions offer to students in support after the incident?"

Coming back together, the participants learned about the essentials of documenting encounters with ICE-a crucial task regardless of each campuses' unique policies and protocols. The elements of the documenting process can be summed up with the acronym SALUTE: the size of the group of agents, their activities and location, their units (e.g., ICE, Homeland Security or Customs and Border Protection), the time, and what equipment they have (particularly weapons).

The day wrapped up with training on how to be a constitutional observer and how to increase our impact by developing and engaging in mutual aid actions. Participants agreed that while they still dread seeing ICE on their campuses, they were far better prepared to support students and colleagues. They also clearly saw the need to build power heading into the midterm elections, so we can elect leaders who care about having a reliable, fair immigration system that protects students, workers and families regardless of citizenship status or country of origin.

Many of the AFT's resources shared in the training are available online, including on immigration (scroll down to the Resources for College Campuses section for higher ed-specific information), defending higher education, AFTvotes, reporting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewal delays, and reporting immigration enforcement actions on campuses.

Higgins, who both helped design the training and participated in it, was especially struck by the importance of networking and partnering with mutual aid societies to support immigrant students and families this fall.

"Mutual aid is just as important and sometimes even more valuable than a direct interaction with ICE," Higgins said. "There are many different ways to stand up for immigrants other than direct interaction and confrontation with ICE. The point of this training is to start thinking about it now."

Dan Gashler, an associate professor of history at the State University of New York at Delhi and a United University Professions member, attended the AFT and AFT New Jersey rapid-response training.

He is already deeply engaged with mutual aid work since he volunteers with the Justice for Migrant Families in Western New York-a nonprofit that advocates for immigrant rights. In his role, he helps to coordinate the payment of jail bonds for people who've been detained.

Gashler also helps refugee students at SUNY Delhi. He is a director of Open Catskills, a nonprofit organization that works to support refugees and asylum-seekers in New York's Delaware County.

In 2024, Open Catskills partnered with SUNY Delhi and Welcome Corps on Campus-a federal program that allowed colleges and universities to privately sponsor and enroll refugee students-to sponsor Somali refugee students. But when the Trump administration ended Welcome Corps in February 2025, Open Catskills had to rely on local donations to continue supporting the refugee students.

"Since the second Trump administration, we have really had to just lean into trying to find and coordinate legal assistance for people, especially for asylum-seekers," Gashler said.

When he left the rapid-response training, Gashler felt proud of the AFT for taking a moral stance against the attacks on immigrants in the United States.

"At an institutional level, we're trying to keep our heads down, we're trying to not overly rock the boat. And at a faculty level and at a community level, that's not good enough," he said. "I mean, we see what's happening, and we want a strong response, and I just feel like the AFT is doing that."

[Alvin Buyinza]