Students march around Ring Road in support of immigrant awareness

Photo by Crytal Liu / Staff

Students marched around UCI’s Ring Road for four hours to raise awareness for immigrants on Feb. 24. Students Advocating for Immigrant Rights and Equity at UCI (SAFIRE) organized the march, titled “Our Future, Our Voices,” to kick off the first day of the organization’s Immigration Awareness Week.

According to a post on SAFIRE’s Instagram, the purpose of the march was to “stand together to show solidarity and demand change.” 

“We are more than labels. We are students, future professionals, and members of a diverse community fighting for our rights,” the post states. “We are here to amplify our voices and demand respect, visibility, and opportunities for undocumented students and workers.”

Those marching shouted chants such as “Up, up with liberation, down, down with deportation” and “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” using buckets as drums and makeshift drumsticks during the chants. 

Posters were passed around with various phrases such as “Protect undocumented youth.” Students holding a banner reading “Unstoppable, undeniable, undocumented & unafraid” led the march. 

Several student speakers shared their experiences as undocumented students or as students living in mixed-status families. 

“This is another reason why we wanted to do this, we want all the undocumented students here to see the love,” one undocumented student speaker said in a speech. “We know you’re out there, you don’t got to be scared like I was.”

Some speakers referenced Opportunity For All, an Undocumented Student Led Network (USLN) campaign advocating for California to “provide equal access to campus job opportunities to all students, regardless of immigration status.” In January 2024, undocumented students across the University of California (UC) held a hunger strike at the UC Board of Regents meeting. The Board voted to delay implementing a policy to expand campus employment opportunities for undocumented students on Jan. 25, 2024. 

Assemblymember David Alvarez introduced an “Opportunity for All” bill which advanced in the California State Legislature last year. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill in October 2024. 

“[Newsom] is not as pro-immigrant as he says he is,” a student speaker said during the march. “He had a really, really amazing opportunity to change the lives of thousands of undocumented students in California and, I mean, you know it wouldn’t just be our individual lives changed, it would change the lives of our families.”

The organizers called for students from the crowd to share their own words during each stopping point of the march. An unidentified speaker shared their thoughts.

“We need to embrace each other harder than ever right now,” the speaker said. “Our rights and our standing in this country, no matter who you are or what documents you have, are being threatened by this current administration and we need to not only recognize that, but we need to have strength in numbers and strength in unity.”

Outside the Humanities Plaza, one student, Cesar, gave a speech in Spanish followed by an English translation.

“During these times, it’s important to support our brothers and sisters, our parents, our grandparents, or any classmates who might not be documented, or even if they are undocumented, let them know it’s okay to come out and protest,” Cesar said. “It’s important to let them know that we protect them, that we’re not going to let anything happen to them.”

Another student discussed their mother’s concerns about picking up her children from school due to the fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) presence in a speech held outside of UC Irvine’s Science Library. 

“The last thing I want is for my siblings to be without a mother,” the student said. “The last thing I want is to drop out to have to take care of my siblings.”

Last month, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders related to immigration including declaring a “national emergency” at the U.S. southern border, limiting birthright citizenship and withholding federal funding for “sanctuary” jurisdictions. 

In a Jan. 21 statement, the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman rescinded the Biden Administration’s guidelines that prevented ICE and Border Protection enforcement actions in “sensitive” areas. These areas include places of worship, schools, medical facilities, social service centers and places providing disaster relief. 

In Southern California, ICE agents were identified in Alhambra and Bakersfield. In response to an increase in ICE activity, hundreds of demonstrators protested in Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Riverside in early February.

A speaker from Anakbayan at UCI spoke about their mom’s experiences as a migrant from the Philippines. 

“I’m not undocumented, but my mom was, so I’m the son of a migrant,” they said. “My mom didn’t get to go home [to the Philippines] for maybe 15 years because of her migration status and I didn’t get to see her for like a full decade.”

At the Engineering Plaza, an undocumented student shared three poems with the crowd: “Alone” by Maya Angelou, “Harlem” by Langston Hughes and a self-written piece titled “I Ask The Regents.”

“Can you hear the sound of living in our skin? Call me awful, call me sin, but can you hear the song of our stomachs in unison? I ask the regents, can you hear us?” they said.

Camelia Heins is a News Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. She can be reached at cheins@uci.edu.