The USC Latinx Law Students Association released a statement Wednesday condemning the Gould School of Law for permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to participate in Gould career recruitment events. 

ICE and CBP attended a virtual recruiting event that also featured over 100 other legal employers, Gould Dean Franita Tolson confirmed in a statement to the Daily Trojan on Monday. The Daily Trojan could not confirm the date of the recruiting event. 

“Granting them access to USC Gould recruitment infrastructure legitimizes an agency whose core function is the surveillance, detention, and deportation of our friends, family, neighbors, and community members through coercive and violent means,” the LLSA statement read.

At the time of publication, the statement had been signed by 25 other law-focused student organizations, as well as 23 members of Gould’s faculty — 11 of whom signed using only their initials.

In her statement, Tolson wrote that law students have a diverse range of career interests and have the option to pursue their individual professional goals. 

“Providing professional support is a top priority at our law school, and likewise providing student support and care — including from me — is a vital priority as well,” Tolson wrote. “Should any Gould student, at any time, have concerns about our law school community, they are always welcome to reach out to me about it.” 

Alejandro Valdivia, a member of the Latinx Law Students Association and a juris doctor candidate at Gould, said a key reason behind the letter was because the group felt unsatisfied with Tolson’s response to complaints from students. 

“We decided to start the letter because we saw that there was nothing being done,” Valdivia said. 

Valdivia also said that ICE and CBP do not meet Gould’s recruiting guidelines. According to Gould’s employer acknowledgement guidelines, employers participating in recruitment events must provide a space free of discrimination and harassment. Valdivia did not specify which policies he believes the federal immigration agencies violate. 

While ICE and CBP were not physically present on campus, the Latinx Law Students Association statement said the virtual format did not change their opposition and called on Gould to sever all recruiting ties with both agencies. 

One of the original statement’s signatories was the American Constitution Society, which wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan that Gould allowing ICE recruitment was “inappropriate.”

“We, as USC Gould’s American Constitution Society, are disappointed that USC Gould is not upholding the values they purport to be instilling in us by claiming their hands were tied and refusing to bar [the Department of Homeland Security], ICE and CBP from USC Gould’s recruitment activities,” the American Constitution Society’s statement read. 

While not all law organizations signed the letter, other groups have issued their own statements on ICE and CBP’s presence at the school’s recruitment events. One of these is the USC Immigration Clinic, a pro bono program run by students and faculty that provides legal representation to immigrants. 

“Lawyers working for ICE and CBP are furthering and facilitating this campaign of fear and terror,” the USC Immigration Clinic wrote in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “While we disagree with the decision to allow DHS to recruit our students through our hiring programs, we still believe that USC administrators are trying to do what is best for the university.”

The Legal Studies Student Association, which did not sign the letter, also criticized the decision in an Instagram post, calling Gould’s allowance of ICE and CBP recruitment “deeply troubling.” The association called on administrators to acknowledge the harm caused by the agencies’ presence and to engage directly with students who voiced their concerns. 

Other law schools have faced similar pushback. At Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, ICE backed out of participating in a recruitment event in response to student protests, according to the State Press, ASU’s student publication.