Undergraduate Students Association Council members said they are seeking to protect undocumented students’ rights on campus under the Trump administration.

USAC President Diego Emilio Bollo said he plans to meet with student organizations like Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success that represent undocumented students. Bollo, a third-year political science and labor studies student, added that a top priority of his is to ensure the new UCPD chief of police is aware of the undocumented and international student presence at UCLA – and that they will not collaborate with immigration law enforcement.

“The increase of police presence on our campus is something that a lot of students are concerned about, especially undocumented international students,” said Bollo, who served as a general representative for the 2024-2025 academic year.

UCPD does not currently collaborate with immigration enforcement, unless they are legally required to do so, according to a Jan. 29 post on the University’s website.

UCPD did not respond to a request for comment regarding their considerations of undocumented students in their selection of a new chief of police.

Bollo said he also plans to organize meetings between members of the undocumented student community and Steve Lurie, UCLA’s associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety.

Bollo added that USAC plans to meet with the UC Board of Regents to discuss how it can support undocumented students. He also said he intends to meet with James Milliken, the incoming UC president, to get an understanding of his experience working with undocumented communities in the past.

However, USAC advocacy efforts have not always been successful.

Bollo said that during his time as general representative, he endorsed a resolution urging the UCLA administration to reinstate the Advisory Council on Immigration Policy. ACIP was an advisory council under the chancellor’s office that was created after President Donald Trump was inaugurated to his first term in 2017, it and was disbanded in 2021 after former President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Though the resolution passed, the chancellor’s office has made no action to reestablish ACIP.

“What we’ve been hearing within USAC and the former office of the president is that this isn’t something that the chancellor’s office is considering this year, and I think it’s because of the UC and UCLA being a target by the federal administration right now,” Bollo said. “It’s a bit disappointing to see that there isn’t any action to form any committees or councils to support undocumented students.”

Bollo also endorsed a resolution alongside Internal Vice President Tommy Contreras, calling for UCLA to become a sanctuary campus. USAC passed the resolution Feb. 4, but Bollo said UCLA is yet to be distinguished as a sanctuary campus.

Contreras, a general representative for the 2024-2025 school year, said he believes it is important to continue putting pressure on the UCLA administration to agree to establish a sanctuary campus, which would prevent the school from complying with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the university values its international students.

“Each and every one of our international Bruins are essential to our UCLA community,” they said. “We continue to work closely with our partners at the University of California system to determine the impacts of proposed changes at the federal level on our campus community while remaining unwavering in our commitment to helping our students learn and grow here at UCLA.”

Keya Tanna, USAC’s international student representative, said she introduced a resolution in response to rising federal immigration threats that urges UCLA to publicly reaffirm its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification status and develop a campus-wide crisis response protocol in case of immigration enforcement or SEVP revocation.

“On my first day in office, I introduced and successfully passed ‘A Resolution in Defense of SEVP Protections and International Security at UCLA’, which was unanimously adopted by USAC,” Tanna said in a written statement. “That show of support from the full council means a great deal; not only to me, but to every international and immigrant-identifying student at UCLA.”

Tanna added in a written statement that a recent student was detained by ICE at Santa Monica College while walking near the campus, highlighting the proximity of the issue. She said the detention has intensified her focus on protecting undocumented students living off campus who may be more vulnerable.

[Related: Santa Monica College community expresses concern after ICE deportation of student]

Syed Tamim Ahmad, USAC’s international student representative for the 2024-2025 academic year, said he and his fellow USAC members reached out to the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars, an on-campus resource for international students, and the UCLA administration for information regarding students who had their visas revoked by the Trump administration.

Ahmad added that he also made an email chain for students including legal visa support. He said the ISR office also enacted tangible changes to help impacted students, such as ensuring the Dashew Center was keeping open communication with students regarding visa status and making it easier for impacted students to receive a hybrid learning without the Undergraduate Council of the Academic Senate approval.

“We made sure that people who were scared about, ‘if I get my student visa revoked, am I still going to be a student?’ that it was clearly out there that your enrollment status is not going to be affected by your visa status,” said Ahmad, a third-year physiological science student. “We also made sure that Dashew Center was checking their SEVP and SEVIS page daily because that’s not something which they normally do, so we made sure that they were checking and they were timely alerting students if there was any change in their student status.”

Ahmad’s office also wrote two resolutions calling on the undergraduate senate to ensure that there were virtual and hybrid options available for students who do not feel comfortable going to class.

Contreras said one of his goals for his upcoming term is to work with the UCLA administration to ensure students are told in real time when immigration enforcement agencies are on campus, rather than after they leave. UCLA will not send out a BruinAlert to students if ICE is on campus but would be “in a position” to do so after the fact, according to minutes obtained by the Daily Bruin from a meeting between USAC officers and UCLA administrators.

UCPD did not respond for comment on their protocol for BruinAlerts in regards to ICE on campus.

[Related: Students who had visas revoked were previously arrested, USAC meeting reveals]

Students also have access to trained officers at UC Immigration Legal Services Center and the Dashew Center, Ahmad said. He added that USAC holds “know your rights” workshops that inform students on what to do in encounters with ICE.

Ahmad said it is USAC’s responsibility to stand up for vulnerable students.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, and there’s a lot of fear amongst the student body, whether it is international or it’s not international, every single person is uncertain and scared,” Ahmad said. “In times of uncertainty, it’s upon the leadership of USAC and student advocates to step up and ensure that misinformation is not spread.”