San José State campus police officers are not allowed to assist federal agents in arresting immigrants, but they can’t stop them from entering university property either under Senate Bill 54.
Senate Bill 54 is a state law that defines the circumstances under which state and local law enforcement agencies can collaborate with national law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws, according to a 2024 annual report from the California Department of Justice.
Rafael Alvarez, a patrol investigations lieutenant for SJSU’s University Police Department, said UPD officers are not allowed to assist U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection agents in arresting immigrants.
“Senate Bill 54 which is also known as California Values Act, actually precludes (local) law enforcement agencies from participating or assisting immigration (agents) in their roles,” Alvarez said. “So we're actually precluded from helping them.”
Senate Bill 54 also prohibits local law enforcement from making or participating in arrests, investigations and interrogations, or in detaining and detecting individuals to enforce federal immigration law, according to the same report.
UPD officers can only alert campus community members through the SJSU Sammy app and the Spartan Safe app if ICE or Customs and Border Protection agents enter university grounds, Alvarez said.
The Sammy or the SJSU app is an app developed by the university to help students participate in campus discussions and to access any information related to the campus, according to its webpage.
The Spartan Safe app is an app that was developed by SJSU’s University Police Department to provide students, staff and faculty access information and alerts from various emergency service departments, according to a webpage from the university.
“We want to make sure that regardless whether it’s ICE or any other law enforcement agency, (that) there are students, staff and faculty that are treated respectfully,” Alvarez said.
UPD officers may involve themselves and interact with ICE or Customs and Border Protection agents to prevent injuries or property damage, according to a FAQ from the CSU.
Yasmine Ortiz, a third-year political science student, is a member of Jóvenes Por La Justicia or Youth for Justice, is a student-led group fighting for the rights and protections of undocumented students, according to its Instagram page.
“A majority of our parents were immigrants, if not all of us,” Ortiz said. “We wanted students to feel safe on campus and feel like they had a home, instead of fearing for what this administration (could do).”
Ortiz said she and the other students have three demands for SJSU, university police and the CSU to support students, staff and faculty fearing ICE and Customs and Border Protection .
She said these three demands are:
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Students want university police, SJSU and the CSU to write statements to confirm in writing that they will not help assist ICE or Customs and Border Protection agents.
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Students want SJSU and the CSU to establish private spaces to protect students, staff and faculty who fear being arrested by both federal agencies
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Students want a more efficient system to alert campus community members that ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers entered university grounds, besides the Sammy app and the Spartan Safe App.
Minh Nguyen, an immigration staff attorney at Asian Law Alliance, confirmed that interactions between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement agencies should be limited under Senate Bill 54.
“As far as local law enforcements, it is to enforce the laws of California and also Santa Clara County, and it is and their main priority is to investigate criminal law crimes nso they are not immigration agents,” Nguyen said.
Asian Law Alliance is a non-profit organization that provides legal services to Asian Pacific Islander and low-income community members in Silicon Valley, according to its webpage.
This includes providing legal services on immigration and human rights. Nguyen said that ICE used to have a memo clarifying that they would not enter certain spaces, such as schools, churches or hospitals, but that memo has been rescinded.
In January, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a directive rescinding guidelines titled, “Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas.”
These guidelines were originally published under President Joe Biden’s administration and prevented these agents from making arrests in schools, medical facilities, places of worship and other protected areas, according to a 2021 memorandum from the same department.
Nguyen said ICE law enforcement agents are allowed to enter any public space as long as there is not expectation of privacy, including SJSU and other public universities. “Generally, universities don’t have the authority to prohibit any kind of federal immersion enforcement officers from coming on campus to those public areas,”
Nguyen said. “They cannot – however – access non-public or restricted areas.” He said restricted areas are determined by a university’s policies, but these spaces usually include university housing, locked areas and possibly fraternities or sorority houses.
Public access to certain areas of CSU campuses are limited because of privacy concerns, operational needs and safety considerations, according to the same FAQ from the CSU.
Gabriela Gonzalez, assistant professor of Justice Studies at SJSU, does research on how the fear of immigration law enforcement affects families, including adult children.
“My focus is generally thinking about looking at the collateral consequences of the potential apprehension of a loved one,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said ICE agents can not force students, staff and faculty to help them enter into restricted school buildings that require an ID card to enter, but they can walk through open doors when a person enters or exits a school building.
University spaces that are physically restricted, including areas that must be accessed with a key card, locked areas and monitored entry ways, are considered restricted areas, not public spaces, according to the same FAQ from the CSU.
“For example, classrooms (and) offices, those are not public spaces,” Gonzalez said. “For those spaces, it is my understanding that ICE would have to have a warrant.”
Gonzalez said community members can ask federal agents to show them their warrants through either a window or to slip the document under the door to check if they have a judge’s signature.
She said a warrant should have the judge’s name and their signature for the warrant to be substantial enough to permit ICE to access a restricted space to apprehend a person.
A judicial warrant is a search warrant issued by a judicial court and signed by a judge, according to a January 2025 article from the National Immigration Law Center.
“If it just says (the) name (of an) officer (or of an) agent, that is not a substantial enough warrant to have to grab ICE, (to have) access into your home or into your office, to come in and apprehend the individual,” Gonzalez said.
Nguyen also said ICE agents are not allowed to enter into areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, regardless of whether or not the entrance is locked.
Immigration officers from ICE and Customs and Border Protection are not allowed to enter areas that are not freely accessible to the public and areas that carry a higher expectation of privacy without a judicial warrant, or without consent to enter the space, according to the same article.
“Whether it’s unlocked or locked, it doesn’t matter,” Nguyen said. “The ICE officers or any federal agents will need a judicial warrant or consent of that person in order to enter that particular premises.”
Ortiz said campus community members should also be aware that any confirmed reports of ICE will be published through the county’s Rapid Response Network to avoid being scared by false reports of federal agents arresting immigrants in the community.
The Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County is a community network built to protect immigrant families from threats of deportation, according to a webpage from Amigos de Guadalupe.
Nguyen said students, staff and faculty members can carry a Red Card with them at all times just in case they encounter ICE agents in public spaces.
A Red Card, also known as a Know Your Rights Card, is a card individuals can show to ICE and CBP agents on what their rights are, according to a webpage from the Community Health Network of Washington.
“I think we'll all be okay and get through this together, because they can take one person down, but they can't take (an) entire community,” Ortiz said.
