The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and other legal groups announced Tuesday they have filed a lawsuit against Florida International University for disciplining seven students who took part in a silent protest on campus in March in opposition to the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the university.
“Florida’s colleges and universities are meant to be places for debate, disagreement, and discussion,” said Nicholas Warren, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida. “The ICEBreakers have every right to express themselves, and FIU cannot turn its campus into a ‘protest-free zone’ through student conduct rules. We’ll see FIU in court.”
Joining the ACLU of Florida: the Community Justice Project, Reid Levin PLLC, and Slater Legal PLLC.
READ MORE: FIU moves to discipline 7 students for 'indoor' silent protest on immigration policies
The students in question — the ICEBreakers — participated in a silent protest March 13 against the school’s voluntary collaboration with federal immigration enforcement on campus. Students stood for a few minutes unveiling shirts that read “ICE OFF FIU,” and then left the room. The silent protest took place during a “fireside chat” with FIU President Jeanette Nuñez and former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
The group intended to protest FIU’s voluntary collaboration with immigration enforcement on campus. After months of trying to meet with Nuñez to voice concerns with the policy, students said they felt they had no other outlet through which they could voice their concerns to her.
The students charged have told WLRN they feel that their freedom of speech is being trampled by the school.
The school has acknowledged the silent protest did not disrupt the program, but moved forward with disciplining the students under a blanket policy that no “expressive conduct” can take place indoors.
FIU has demanded the students make videos about the school’s ban on so-called “expressive conduct” that takes place indoors, the infraction the students are being charged with.
FIU spokesperson Madeline Baró previously told WLRN that its policies are in accordance with the First Amendment along with Florida law.
"FIU applies its rules prohibiting protests and demonstrations in university buildings consistently, regardless of viewpoint. This ensures that classes, research, and academic spaces can function without interference or disruption," Baró wrote in an email to WLRN. "The University allows protests and demonstrations in outdoor areas, giving people a meaningful way to share their views, just not inside university lecture halls, labs, offices, or residence halls."
ICEBreakers and the seven charged students also filed a preliminary injunction motion on Tuesday to block FIU officials from enforcing the unconstitutional policy against them and other ICEBreakers members as the case proceeds to trial.
“FIU is the first university in the country to volunteer to deputize campus police into ICE agents,” said Max Fondren, president of the ICEBreakers student group, in a statement. “We are all too aware of the chaos these ICE partnerships have created across communities in South Florida. It makes us feel unsafe, and we have every right to protest it. We will not be silenced or forced into compliance.”
“ICE has no place at any university, especially one that calls itself a haven for international students,” said Andrew Caro, one of the seven charged students, a first-generation college student, and the son of Mexican immigrants. “Inviting federal enforcement on campus goes against everything this university claims to represent—and instead of listening to students’ real concerns about this, they punished us.”
Read the lawsuit ICEBreakers v. Nuñez here.
