The Latinx Student Association will stage demonstration against the conduct of Immigration Customs & Enforcement on Monday, May 4 on the Kay Granger Mall. [Graphic courtesy Gabriel Hernandez]

The Latinx Student Association (LSA) will hold an anti-Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest on Monday, May 4, on the Kay Granger Mall from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.  

Planning for the demonstration began April 1 and focused on determining the mission, location and time for the protest. LSA welcomed members of LSA and the Wesleyan community to offer input during the process.   

The university’s demonstration policies were also taken into consideration while planning to ensure participant safety.  

Per university policy, students or student organizations organizing a demonstration are required to make advanced arrangements with the Dean of Students Office at least three business days prior to the start of the event.  

Demonstration organizers are not allowed to advertise the date of the event until it is approved, which left LSA to figure out when the demonstration was to take place.  

LSA President and senior criminal justice major Gabriel Hernandez shared what he hoped protest participants will gain from the demonstration. 

“We want the main takeaway to be that issues [and policy] regarding immigration are a constant concern in our communities,” Hernandez said. “We aim to grow knowledge on available resources for students and their families.” 

LSA members also discussed how the event would be publicized once the message was finalized, Hernandez shared his thoughts on what he believes encourages students to show up.  

“I think a lot of our campus events see high attendance whenever people do word-of-mouth advertising because they know their peers are going,” Hernandez said. “Especially with something big like protests, it’s going to be comforting to our students if they know that someone they know is going to attend.”  

All students participating in demonstrations are expected to carry and present a form of university issued or government issued identification upon request, as well as have their signs pre-approved.  

Members of LSA will be supervising the event along with campus security to ensure guidelines are being followed and prevent misconduct that could cause the demonstration to be cut short.  

Hernandez mentioned multiple influences that called him to action. Specifically, when Polytechnic High School students staged an Anti-ICE walkout protest, which made its way to Wesleyans campus on Jan. 30, Hernandez was emboldened to organize a demonstration with LSA.  

“You would expect a school walkout, but it was a little bit surprising that they showed up on our campus. It was definitely influential, inspiring even,” Hernandez said. 

Leslie Soto, sophomore bilingual education major and vice president of LSA, shared what encouraged her to become involved in the planning process.  

“I’ve never been a part of a protest…but, I strongly feel that it has to be done for those that don’t want to speak,” Soto said.