EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION/ANALYSIS • POLITICS

Cornell student government demands school cut ties with ‘racist’ ICE

Posted on October 1, 2025
By Matt Lamb - Associate Editor
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ICE officers work with other agencies during an enforcement operation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Flickr

Key Takeaways

  • Cornell University's student government passed a resolution demanding the school cut ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection due to concerns over what they say are 'racist' practices
  • Students called for an immediate halt to any events related to ICE or CBP for the upcoming academic year and highlighted the agencies' actions, including allegedly illegal detentions and deportations, as misaligned with Cornell's mission of 'any person, any study.<br>

OPINION

Cornell University’s student government wants the school to cut ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Border Patrol.

The student assembly passed a resolution last week that criticized the career services office for its “collaboration” with the law enforcement agencies, including an event scheduled for Tuesday.

“Cornell Career Services shall cease any existing collaboration with ICE and/or Customs and Border Protection and shall not collaborate with, advertise events for, or engage in any activity promoting the efforts of ICE or Customs and Border Protection,” the resolution demanded.

Career Services still listed the “Law Enforcement Recruitment Webinar” for U.S. Customs and Border Protection on its website as of Tuesday afternoon soon before the event was about to start. It also lists an FBI recruiting event as well.

The resolution said these agencies “have espoused insensitive, racist, and broadly uninclusive rhetoric that conflicts with Cornell’s stated values.”

The students also demanded “no further events with Customs and Border Protection shall be scheduled or allowed to go forward in the 2025-2026 academic year” and “Cornell Career Services shall not advertise any ICE or Customs and Border Protection events, recruitment related or otherwise.”

The resolution also said the agencies “have illegally detained and deported thousands of undocumented people without proper legal standing, engaged in racial and ethnic profiling, and conducted workplace raids that conflict with Cornell’s stated values.” These values include “any person, any study,” according to the resolution.

Sponsor Max Ehrlich has used this phrase before. In May he criticized the planned shrinking of the federal Department of Education, also claiming to do so would violate Cornell’s “any person, any study” promise. It is the founding principle of Cornell, which essentially means the school should be open to all.

“Cornell cannot remain silent in the face of these attacks on public education and financial aid,” he wrote last spring in an opinion piece for the student newspaper, asking the university to provide funding to Ithaca public schools.

While running for student assembly, Ehrlich promised he would “protect students from Trump administration attacks,” according to his Instagram.

Cornell students might attack ICE, but the reality is the law enforcement agency is keeping Americans safe by removing violent criminals from the country, including rapists and murderers. Border Patrol agents are also keeping the country safe by stopping illegal immigrants from coming into our country now.

Cornell students should be proud to be recruited to join the efforts to protect the rule of law and strengthen our democracy through the enforcement of citizenship rules.

MORE: Superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district arrested by ICE