As we foster the campus community in our university, there should always be one element that comes to mind — solidarity. There will often be times in which the current social and political climates can feel isolating and can be remedied through organization, collaboration, and care for one another. This is the root of what our campus’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America seeks to do throughout their ICE Out campaigns.
YDSA, a youth student branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, made its way to Millersville’s campus in the fall of 2025. With a focus on local communities, student rights, and fundraising, the chapter has grown and continues to create change in their working groups. Some of these groups include the labor union working group and the political education working group. The ICE Out group has provided significant change and support on Millersville’s campus, working to alleviate the lack of education surrounding the relevant issues related to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE.
Beginning with a petition that has garnered 835 signatures, the ICE working group created objectives outlining the best measures designed to protect the student body if ICE agents were to come to Millersville’s campus. These include implementing a safety map of Millersville to show what areas require a judicial warrant, creating hybrid learning options in the case that ICE activity occurs near campus, obtaining a statement of refusal from Millersville borough regarding the 287(g) agreement, providing easily accessible legal resources around campus, offering “know your rights” training for staff, and encouraging the university to divest from ICE-related entities.
Some of these objectives ended up being reworked — for example, the safety map merged into creating designs for signs placed outside private areas requiring a warrant instead. Rather than speaking to professors directly about “know your rights” training, the team has instead decided to work directly with department heads for a more effective outcome. The refusal of 287 (G), an agreement between local police and the federal government allowing local police to act as immigration officers, has evolved from the university police to borough police directly.
Krista Lambert and Lauren Nace, two members of YDSA who work within the ICE Out program, described ICE-related difficulties as an “issue that the Millersville student body cares about a lot,” and emphasized both the issue’s importance to campus safety, as well as the importance of students taking it upon themselves to look out for themselves and their peers.
Struggles with administration regarding efforts to address concerns related to ICE are frequent, which means more than ever that the club members and campus as a whole have to support each other.
Currently, the ICE working group’s efforts remain relevant as ICE continues to frequent nearby locations such as the Prospect Road exit, a common exit for Millersville commuters, and York College, where immigration-related arrests have been recently reported. There are also ongoing efforts focused on the removal of 287(g) agreements involving Millersville borough police and increased advertisements for “know your rights” meetings.
On Friday, Oct. 23, YDSA will be holding a benefit show on the campus’ quad from 5 to 9 p.m. While the event is free to attend, they will be collecting donations for We Are Casa, which provides free legal counseling and support to immigrants and those being impacted by ICE.
There will be four artists performing: Celia Romero, Izzy and Enzo, Calabash, and Winchester. Additionally, if you are interested in meeting dates, information, and ways to get involved, you can follow them on Instagram at @ydsa_ville.
