Three people, including two Ohio State students, were arrested during a protest of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s involvement at a career fair at the Ohio Union Tuesday.
The two unidentified students were among a crowd of about 60 protesters who gathered at the lobby of the union at 1 p.m., holding signs protesting the agency having a booth at the College of Arts and Sciences Career Fair.
The protest came after weeks of protests against the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, following stronger crackdowns of immigration enforcement and after the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, according to reporting by AP News.
Soon after the crowd gathered in the union lobby, they walked up the stairs to the Archie M. Griffin Grand Ballroom on the second floor. Protesters were told by members of Ohio State’s Campus Activism and Event Engagement Team that chanting “the people united will never be defeated”, which the group had begun the protest with, was not permitted inside the building.
According to Ohio State’s space standards, “restricted noise is not permitted in indoor spaces unless approved as part of an event reservation or official University function.”
As they reached the top of the steps, the chants turned to clapping in rhythm, before an organizer from Students for Justice in Palestine — also known as SJP — addressed the crowd.
“This rally is leaderless,” said the organizer to the crowd, who declined to be identified. “We are here today to say we will not allow DHS to recruit, we will not allow border patrol to recruit and we will not allow ICE on this campus.”
Some protesters entered the event by signing in, having registered online, before approaching the table where border protection officers were seated, many more remained outside the ballroom, holding signs and interacting with campus police officers and staff from Ohio State’s event engagement team.
One unidentified student, who stood closest to the table holding a sign that read “DHS OFF CAMPUS,” was detained and escorted out of the ballroom following a back and forth interaction with officers from university police.
Two Border Protection officers who were working the table at the event, began to pack their things while they spoke to the protestors. At around 1:30, they left the Career Fair through a side exit.
While the crowd remaining inside the union lobby began to regroup outside, event engagement team staff members gave verbal warnings to keep moving, which prompted pushback from the protesters.
Once outside the ballroom, protesters were told that they needed to disperse or face charges of criminal trespassing.
Outside, two more individuals — one of them a student — were then arrested. While many expressed confusion as to why they needed to leave, others chanted “shame” at arresting officers.
Dan Hedman, a university spokesperson, said in an email they were arrested after violating space standards.
“Three individuals were arrested for criminal trespass, following multiple warnings, after disrupting a career fair event inside the Ohio Union and violating university space standards.” Hedman said.
According to the space standards, people can be arrested or cited after university officials have warned them to cease prohibited activity.
Following the two final arrests, Jineen Musa, a fourth-year in health sciences and an organizer with SJP, told the crowd that they should disperse to minimize further arrests.
“Since the encampments in 2024,” Musa said, referring to protests on campus in support of the Palestinian liberation movement, according to prior Lantern reporting. “OSU has updated their space policies to include very draconian and arbitrary space rules, within this they’ve eliminated chanting, they’ve prohibited students from using their first amendment rights to protest for things on campus.”
Musa said that the arrests were a continuation of these “arbitrary space rules,” but considered the protest an overall success.
“Our purpose in being out here today was to have [border patrol] removed from the career fair,” Musa said, “that is to say, they left in cowardice, I know that if folks autonomously didn’t stage this protest they would not have left.”
Border patrol has been present at previous career fairs, Ben Johnson, a university spokesperson, said in an email.
“This is a large career fair with more than 150 public and private sector employers,” Johnson said “U.S. Customs and Border Protection has attended for several years in a row.”
