College Students Drive Out Border Patrol From Recruiting Workers at Job Fair

October 23, 2015

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection pulled out of UC Irvine’s college fair on Thursday after facing complaints that their presence would be insensitive to illegal immigrants.

The decision was made after 659 students signed an online petition on Change.org calling for Border Patrol to be removed as participants in the annual job fair.

Amy Yu, the UCI student who started the petition, wrote on Change.org:

“The undocumented community is directly affected by deportation and detention policies that are carried out by Border Patrol, and having Border Patrol agents on campus is a blatant disregard to undocumented students’ safety and well-being.”

“The fact that UCI has invited an agency known for racial profiling, use of force, and unjustified violence is an act of disrespect and insensitivity and ignores the struggles and needs of the undocumented student community on campus. Border Patrol abuse and violence not only affects migrants at the border but it also extends to the communities and families beyond, including those of us at UCI.”

Within two days of the petition’s posting, UCI spokesperson Cathy Lawhon issued the following statement on Wednesday to The College Fix:

“As of this morning, U.S. Customs & Border Patrol has decided not to attend the campus Career Fair on Thursday, Oct. 22. However, the agency will continue to utilize UCI’s Career Center online job postings system to list available positions for those students interested in working with CBP.”

However, not all students agreed with the petition. Rob Petrosyan, president of UC Irvine’s College Republicans, said in an email to The College Fix:

“I feel that these efforts are an attempt to politicize a jobs fair that is supposed to help college students find much needed work once they graduate. Just because some disagree with what they do does not mean they can call for its removal.”

“If you don’t approve of U.S. Customs, don’t apply to work for them, it’s that simple. As for concerns over safety, it’s not like the recruiters will actively be seeking to deport students.”

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