Over 100 students, faculty and staff chanted, marched and waived protest signs Friday, decrying recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Students for Quality Education (SQE) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spearheaded the Friday event, which brought participants from Trinity Lawn to a march around campus and the downtown area. Participants were asked to sign their names on a board, and they had the opportunity to gather pamphlets about ICE and make signs. 

At the start of the protest, Eran Zelnik, lecturer in the History Department began chants such as “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA,” a sentiment also shared on signs carried by protestors. Other signs throughout the protest called on the community to protect immigrants and fight injustice. 

Zelnik offered the crowd an opportunity to speak out, and Paige Kinego, a freshman majoring in English was the first protester to speak.

“They (ICE) don’t care about innocent until proven guilty. They don’t care about a free trial. All they care about is power and intimidation,” Kinego said. “We need to show them we are not intimidated.”

Kat Anderson, representative of SQE, began leading the march through campus — shouting anti-ICE slogans. The protest started on Trinity Lawn then marched past Laxson Auditorium, Meriam Library and into downtown Chico. It returned back to Trinity about 1 p.m.

As protestors marched downtown, cars honked in support as cheers erupted from the motivated crowd. People walking by also came out of the shops and homes to cheer in support. 

This protest was part of a broader movement nationwide called “ICE out for Good,” following the death of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis, MN. Today also saw a call for a nationwide boycott, calling on people to avoid going to school or work and spending money. 

There were free speech coordinators for the event as well as the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, Cirilo Cortez. They said they were there to make sure all of the proper guidelines outlined in the Time, Place and Manner of Expression policy were being followed. 

“We support free speech on campus, regardless of what it looks like,” Cortez said. “To ensure that students, community members, faculty and staff, included, have the ability to practice their First Amendment right here on campus safely.” 

Chief of Staff Ashley Gebb said that the university has a long history of free speech on campus. “It’s a cornerstone of who we are as Chico State, of what we do as a democratic society, and we’re really supportive of those who choose to engage in this today.”

She said the university applauds its community for demonstrating issues that are important to them. “We uphold their rights to free expression, and the opportunity they want to take today to share their perspective with other people,” Gebb said.

“It (the protest) means that I get to see my community also show the same sort of feelings that I have,” said James Carlson, a senior and co-lead of SJP. “It means that I get to see a massive turnout, and it shows the local community that there are people who care about this.”

Sean Shanks, Brenden Masson, Chris Hutton and Aiden Masson contributed to this article.

Aiden Masson and Chris Hutton can be reached at [email protected].