- Most public colleges and universities in Illinois are failing to fully comply with a new state law that requires the schools have protocols on what to do if immigration agents show up on campus and to provide information to students on how to respond, a Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ investigation has found.
- While the law required the schools to put protocols in place by Jan. 1, the Sun-Times/WBEZ analysis found that only four institutions were following four key aspects of the law: designating someone to handle reports of agents on campus; listing a contact number or people to call if agents are present; documenting interactions with immigration agents and notifying students of staff if the agents are asking questions about them. Some schools said they were complying with the law through internal procedures.
- Illinois is home to 27,000 undocumented college students and more than 64,000 international students who are in the U.S. studying on a visa, according to the Sun-Times. Immigration advocates told the Sun-Times they are worried that public colleges and universities aren’t doing enough to protect students. “That is pretty alarming,” Jennifer Juárez, director of higher education at the Latino Policy Forum, told the Sun-Times regarding its findings.“I know our students were very vocal about not feeling safe going to campus or not feeling that their institution had the right protocols.”
The bigger picture:
The findings in Illinois come at a time when already-tenuous safeguards for undocumented students are being eroded. For instance, an administrative court within the Trump administration’s Department of Justice ruled on April 24 that DACA status alone is not enough to shield recipients from being deported.
International students and scholars who have voiced support for the Palestinian cause have also been targeted in Trump’s crackdown on campus activism. In addition to kicking immigrant students and scholars out of the country, the Trump administration is also letting fewer international students in. Visa refusals recently hit a record high at 35% in 2025 – up from 31% in 2024.
States like Illinois – where Democrats currently control both legislative houses and the governor’s mansion – have sought to push back against immigration enforcement actions they view as politically-motivated encroachments. Trump administration officials say they’re simply upholding the Constitution, federalism and the rule of law.
