‘No fear. No hate. No ICE in our state’: Miami’s YSDA march for a sanctuary campus

Chants of “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here,” “From Palestine to Mexico, all those walls have got to go” and “No borders. No nations. No more deportations” could be heard during the Young Democratic Socialists of America’s (YDSA) protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The group of roughly 25 Miami University students and faculty marched from Cook Field to Roudebush Hall April 24 as part of their sanctuary campus campaign to protect students, faculty and staff if ICE were to come to campus.

Not only that, but Noah Levy, co-chair of YDSA and an individualized studies major, said they want to prohibit ICE from coming to campus without a legally binding judicial warrant and provide resources, including legal assistance, to anyone potentially targeted.

On Feb. 12, YDSA, in conjunction with the Faculty Alliance of Miami (FAM), Butler County for Immigrants Justice and Cincinnati’s Democratic Socialists of America, held the first sanctuary campus petition meeting. As of April, the petition has roughly 685 signatures. Levy said it’s symbolic, to show support for the cause, not a legal petition for change.

“So we're here today with all that, making ourselves heard, making our presence known, saying, ‘Hey, we're not just putting our names on a piece of paper. We're here and we're a problem,’” Levy said.

Cathy Wagner, a professor in the English department and department liaison for FAM, said currently, America is in a situation where there's potential for ICE raids to happen anywhere at any time.

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In Ohio, Sheriff Richard Jones reentered a contract to house ICE detainees in the Butler County jail in February 2025. He later signed an agreement in November 2025 allowing trained deputies to serve as ICE enforcement agents. Thirty-three deputies are credentialed to search for and arrest illegal immigrants, according to reporting by the Journal News.

“We don't have any specific guarantees or information or commitments from the university about what will happen [if ICE comes to campus],” Wagner said. “So this is really urgent. We have a lot of international students and faculty, too, who are really concerned about this situation. It's not like only people who are undocumented are getting arrested and harmed out there, right? So it's a real risk, and we want to support these folks.”

Taylor Stumbaugh

Protesters from the YDSA gather outside Roudebush Hall

From December 2025 through January 2026, ICE arrested on average 1,264 people per day; meanwhile, in late 2024, before President Trump took office for his second term, that number was roughly 300 per day, according to data by U.C. Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project. The majority of people arrested had no criminal record, and among those that did, most had low-level offenses, according to the American Immigration Council.

During one of the speeches, Garrett Von Gostomski, a first-year computer science major, said YDSA and fellow supporters cannot allow the Miami administration to shrug off the petition or keep ignoring them.

“We cannot let them get away with reassuring words but no action,” Von Gostomski said. “Neutrality. Indifference. Passivity. These are Miami’s current positions on ICE. But these positions kill. We cannot be neutral or indifferent in the face of a racist armed force that has killed civilians in broad daylight and will continue to kill them at all times of day in inhuman detention centers and in the streets, splitting up families and friendships.”

He added that if Miami takes no action, the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) may become contracted with ICE, and students could end up in jail, becoming “nothing more than a profit incentive for a morally corrupt police department.”

However, the university is not aware of contact by law enforcement, including ICE agents, and there have been no agents on campus, according to previous reporting by The Miami Student.

Levy ended the march at Roudebush Hall. After 20 minutes of chants and speeches at the base of the steps, two MUPD officers arrived and stood silently by. The hour-long protest ended with more chants like “No fear. No hate. No ICE in our state,” and a final speech from Levy.

FAM, YDSA and the Ohio Student Association will host a funeral protesting the new arena on Cook Field during the May Day festivities on May 1 at noon.

stumbata@miamioh.edu