Los Medanos students and staff gathered Wednesday, March 4 in front of the campus, to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The protest took place around campus as participants held signs and posters made by students to spread the message as they marched.
Students Alex Brewer and Yelena Rasco coordinated the event to reach students here at LMC. “There was a day that ICE was spotted in the Brentwood routes, and we’re done being afraid, angry, and alone. We wanted to make an event where people feel less alone and break the silence,” Brewer said.
The protest took place throughout campus as students marched back and forth, repeating phrases against ICE.
Professor Alex Sterling joined in the protest, and when asked why he is out there protesting he mentions what it means to stand up for immigrants, “A huge number of LMC families have immigrants in them that are not born in the U.S., If you go into any random classroom, the person who you sit next to may have immigrants in their family,” Sterling said.
“What Trump is doing with extreme enforcement, cruelty, and lies about immigration is profoundly wrong.”
As students walked across campus, their voices shouted “Immigrants are welcome here” loudly to spread their message that no student regardless of their status should feel silenced by what has been happening in the world.
Student Ruth Onyeayana expresses their thoughts on immigrant rights, “The message we’re trying to send is that immigrants are welcome here and students should have no fear of going outside or coming to class. No matter what the government is saying is or isn’t legal about being human” Onyeayana said.
There was many students that gathered and marched within the protest, student Stacey Lozano “I’m out here today even as a small community here in Pittsburgh to show that we have our own voices to spread the awareness on ICE and what they been doing not just in California but all across the country,” Lozano said.
Professor Morgan Lynn, who teaches in the English department, attended the protest dressed as Lady Liberty, “Visibility is key. I think no human is illegal. Everything that ICE is doing is illegal, and we must defend our spaces. People who look like me have privilege and citizenship. We must stand with them [immigrants] and fight with them,” said Morgan
Without the voices of staff and students, the protest wouldn’t have been able to happen. Student Cindy Alvarenga shares her recent experiences with ICE.
“Today I’m at this protest because recently my uncle got detained by ICE. I’ve been hearing about the concentration camps, where they have him sleeping on concrete floors and withholding life-saving medication from him. These 30-by-30 square foot rooms, and they feed them every other day,” Alvarenga expressed the conditions her uncle is facing.
Additionally, adding the power that protests such as these hold across college campuses, “We need absolute dedication and skills to make anything happen, and we really do have that power as students in the current political landscape. We are capable of mobilizing masses to get things done, and all of the people that we were not able to reach this time, we can reach them next time.”
