Much of the animosity directed at the Trump administration is directed at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, formerly known as the “Border Patrol.” Some socialist Democratic politicians have called for abolishing and folding the agency entirely, ignoring the national security ramifications of abandoning an entire nation’s border to other nations.
At the University of Arizona, some students were upset that CBP agents were at the university’s job fair. Recently, there was an immigration raid near the college campus, during which a family was detained over questions about their legal immigration status. As a result, the protesting students felt that CBP’s presence at the university’s job fair was unfair and unjust.
One student bragged that she chanted anti-CBP slogans to some of the federal agents still lingering in the campus building after the job fair ended. She admitted that student activist groups have failed to prevent CBP from stepping onto the campus for job fairs and other events over the years.
A student official, the assistant vice provost for student engagement, Abra McAndrew, said, “I think that the impact had not been heard or felt by the Border Patrol in a way that would indicate to them that there’s a reason to change what they’re doing.” Or, in other words, McAndrew approved of the protests in order to push the federal immigration enforcement agency to change their policies and tactics.
This mirrors several similar incidents at other universities in recent years. In October 2015, CBP withdrew from a job fair at the University of California-Irvine over concerns that the agents will be in an unsafe position. A student petition criticized the agency for its actions and the agency felt that it would draw too much negative attention if they were to go through and attend the job fair. In April 2016, at the California State University-San Marcos, students protested the inclusion of CBP agents at their university’s career fair. Some of the signs at the protest said, “Stop tearing us apart” and “CSUSM: A Safe Space?” in front of the table that advertised job openings within the agency.
