UT Austin students walk out for immigrant rights

Austin, TX – Around 40 students rallied at a walkout for immigrant rights in front of the UT Tower, Wednesday, April 9, at 11 a.m. The walkout is part of an ongoing campaign by Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to kick ICE off campus. Students are calling on the university to take concrete actions to protect immigrant students and to refuse to collaborate with ICE.

Luca Reyes of SDS kicked off the program, stating, “Immigrant families in this nation, who are simply trying to secure a better future for their families, are being torn apart with no mercy. Not only have ICE agents been spotted around the city of Austin and on UT’s campus, but now foreign students are getting their F1 visas revoked entirely. It’s nothing short of shameful!”

Reyes continued, “Admin has made it clear that they don’t want to hear us out, so we’ll do everything in our power to make our voices impossible to ignore. It’s not enough to count on politicians who repeatedly drag their feet on fighting unjust policies. Change doesn’t come at the mercy of our politicians or their lackeys in the UT administration. It comes from the mobilization of people in mass. It comes from a constant, relentless struggle for change by people who truly believe in justice, including students such as ourselves!”

Natalie Webb, pastor of a local Baptist church, spoke to the crowd, stating the University Baptist Church “will not cooperate with law enforcement who are seeking to do any kind of raids.” Webb continued, “We are part of a bigger Baptist body that is on the first lawsuit against the Trump administration’s recension of sanctuary policies.”

SDS has held other protests against Trump’s mass deportations throughout the semester and has also spoken out in defense of students who have been detained by ICE for their pro-Palestine activism, such as Mahmoud Khalil.

SDS member Ava Hosseini spoke about the importance of defending not only immigrants’ rights, but also the First Amendment right to free speech and protest, stating, “This is not just about the ICE raids, and this is not just about immigration. This is also about the fact that the university has systemically suppressed our freedom to protest.”

Hosseini concluded, “But friends, the very fact that they have gone through such lengths to shut us down in the past shows that they are afraid. They are afraid of our collective action. They are afraid of what we can do when we stand together. If there were ever a time to get involved, that time is now, and that place is right here at the heart of change in Texas, less than a mile from the Capitol.”

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #SDS