21-04-2025
FAU partners campus police with ICE, makes foreign students deportation targets
The Florida Atlantic University website asks the question, 'Why FAU?'
'Ranked as one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse universities in the U.S., we value the insights our international students bring to our community …'
… And we look for new ways to use the campus police to question their immigration status and help deport them and their loved ones with or without reason or due process.'
OK, that last part was my update. That's because FAU, under its new private-prison president, has become one of the first public universities in Florida to request using its campus police force as partners with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
By volunteering to participate in the controversial 287(g) program, FAU would essentially deputize its campus officers to help ICE to identify deportables among its 2,500 international students who make FAU 'the most diverse public university in the state,' as it claims.
Who knew that FAU was full of Tren de Aragua gang members? I thought all those tattooed students were just vinyl record collectors, baristas and young adults who really love their mothers.
And in the years I spent as an adjunct professor there, I never ran into any Middle Eastern terror cells in my classes.
I did encounter so-called Dreamers, who were exemplary, motivated students who came to this country as children and were hoping to eventually attain permanent legal status here.
Is looking for ways to deport them and their family members going to be a new priority?
I thought the main job of the campus police — after zealously enforcing parking regulations on campus — was to keep the students safe from harm.
The FAU Police mission statement says, in part:
'Our vision is to maintain a high caliber organization of professionals that provide our diverse community with the most efficient and effective public safety services possible.
'While providing these services we will ensure that we maintain optimal efficiency by cultivating high professional and ethical standards, providing ongoing training and a continued assessment of the needs of our community.'
Who knew that the 'needs of our community' would involve converting students into immigration detainees? Using campus police as proxy ICE agents will mean that many of FAU's international students will avoid reporting crimes or requesting help from the campus police.
Even in the cases where the students are here legally, they may be living with family members or friends who have immigration issues.
But it could be that my concern about how this ICE partnership will make FAU students less safe is just some outdated pre-DeSantis thinking?
After all, it was just two months ago that Gov. Ron DeSantis installed Adam Hasner as FAU's president in a selection process that reeked of a fix.
Hasner, the only finalist without an administrative background in higher education, was an executive vice president for the GEO Group, a Boca Raton-based private prison company that owns or manages 28 immigration jails for ICE and derives about 42 percent of its revenue from ICE contracts.
GEO has a blemished history at FAU and its Florida Owls identity. This came to a head in 2013 when the company bought the naming rights for FAU's football stadium for $6 million.
Opinion: Florida can change how it picks university presidents. There's a bill for that.
The deal was approved by the school's board of trustees but later rescinded after students began protesting and calling their new football stadium, 'Owlcatraz.'
Naming the university football stadium after a private-prison company is symbolically tacky. But that's small potatoes compared to using campus police as an arm of a branch of government that, under its present command, has been known for gross errors, the lack of due process, and a penchant for performative cruelty.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been busy canceling the visas of foreign students for engaging in protests and writing op-ed pieces critical of U.S. foreign policy.
'They're visitors to the country,' Rubio told reporters. 'If they're taking activities that are counter to our foreign, to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we'll revoke the visa.'
In light of all this, FAU ought to change its 'Why FAU?' marketing pitch to international students.
Cut the happy talk about what a 'diverse' student body the university has. Headline: the word 'diverse' has been recently banned in Florida.
Instead, remind these potential foreign students that if they enroll at FAU, those friendly-looking campus police officers are really ICE agents.
So, think twice before you call them for help.
Also, for your own good, avoid all campus political activities. To be safe, if you see a crowd of people, just walk the other way, unless you want to end up being swept up by plain-clothes masked men and sent to a dark site in some distant state.
And don't even think of getting a tattoo.
Opinion: For FAU's next president, DeSantis will probably want the prison guy
Remember: Your university president has a background working for a company that requires replenishing warm bodies inside immigrant detention facilities.
In light of this, the university's marketing pitch requires a slight punctuation change.
Why, FAU?
Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at fcerabino@
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU turns campus cops into ICE, harms foreign students | Opinion
