Last week, Oakwood City officials confirmed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to transform two warehouses at 3613 Atlanta Highway into an ICE detention center. This location is less than two miles from the UNG Gainesville campus, sparking backlash from some students.

“Having it there will ignite fear in students,” says Naydelin Chavero-Hernandez, a sophomore accounting major who serves as the president of UNG Democrats on the Gainesville campus. “Students will not want to go to school. People are going to be scared.”

Almost 20% of students at UNG identify as Hispanic or Latina, a population that is commonly targeted by ICE operations. 

Members of the Gainesville community have shown opposition to the proposed detention center through peaceful demonstrations and civil engagement, such as a press conference on Friday, Feb. 13 that drew more than 100 protestors to Oakwood City Hall.

A city council meeting on Monday, Feb. 9 also attracted a large crowd of protestors. Among them was Michael Kelsey, a freshman environmental science major at UNG.

“We’re at a time in America where speaking up is not just your right, but I feel like it’s your responsibility at this point, because I truly believe that nobody is free when others are oppressed,” says Kelsey, adding that he thinks connecting with other students is “one of the strongest ways to fight oppression.”

Student organizations, such as the UNG Democrats, the Latino Student Association and Students for a Progressive Society, have organized several events on and around campus.

UNG Democrats will host a protest on Saturday, Feb. 21, in conjunction with the Young Democrats of Georgia, the Rainbow Collective and the Latino Caucus, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Poultry Park, 444 Jesse Jewell Parkway. Chavero-Hernandez says she expects more than 100 people to attend.

On Friday, Jan. 30, LSA and the UNG Democrats hosted a walkout from noon to 1 p.m. Officers from both clubs estimated between 20 and 50 students participated, gathering at the Designated Public Forum area on the Gainesville campus to hold up anti-ICE signs.

“We have these things so that we can show that our voices do really matter, regardless of how small they are,” says Michael Diaz-Badillo, vice president of the UNG Democrats. “Students are the future of the country.”

Martina Prieto, a junior graphic design major and vice president of public relations for LSA, says peaceful protests at the university level are one of the most effective ways to “push institutions or people of higher power to listen.”

“It’s not even trying to be political, it’s just wanting people to be treated equally and have compassion for others,” she says. “We just wanted students to not feel alone or silenced.”

Like Prieto, other students say they attended the demonstration to show solidarity with their peers who may be directly affected or otherwise impacted by immigration anxiety.

Evelyn Magaña, a senior digital arts major and treasurer for LSA, says she is anxious about current immigration-related events, but says seeing students show up to support each other “feels empowering” and gives her hope for the possibility of change.

Magaña is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and although her parents are naturalized citizens, she says she worries “almost on a daily basis” that they will be stopped by ICE and “taken away.”

“It feels unjust that this is all happening to people who are here trying to make a living for their families. A lot of the time, they come here to support their families back home, they come here for a fresh start, or they leave their home countries to escape hostility,” she says, “but unfortunately, once they’re here, they’re met with hostility. That’s something no person should experience, feeling like you have to stay hidden just to survive.”