Allendale, MI – The Progressive Student Union at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) led a march on Monday, September 22, demanding that the GVSU board of trustees pass a sanctuary campus policy to protect international and immigrant students from deportations.

GVSU has a large population of international students. In April, four international students had their visas revoked by the federal government, before being reinstated in August.

The two demands of the sanctuary campus campaign include a formal policy that prohibits any university facilities, resources, property, personnel, information or funds to be used to assist federal immigration enforcement, as well as a specific ban on any cooperation between the Grand Valley Police Department and federal immigration agencies.

“If GVSU holds to a policy that they won’t help ICE in any way, including no help from the police, that means ICE would be totally isolated if they tried to come on campus and abduct a student. At that point it gives the students the power to organize and fight back to force ICE off campus,” said Micah Colby, an organizer with the Progressive Student Union

On Monday, students rallied in front of the GVSU administrative building, Zumberge Hall, to carry forward these demands. Activists from the Progressive Student Union and the Grand Rapids District of Freedom Road Socialist Organization gave speeches to a crowd of students. As students walked by the rally commuting between their classes, rally organizers distributed flyers about the sanctuary campus campaign.

Progressive Student Union organizer Tabby Dawson spoke at the rally, stating, “We choose to be on the right side of history, and not standing on the sidelines, not watching our friends and neighbors be kidnapped by masked vigilantes. We will not allow GVSU nor GVPD to condone this behavior, and we will not stop until GVSU makes a concrete policy to make this a sanctuary school.”

#AllendaleMI #MI #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #SDS

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