Around 20 protesters gathered and marched around San José State’s campus to show their ongoing solidarity with the pro-Palestinian movement and to express their concerns around immigration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Members from SJSU Students for Justice in Palestine gathered near the Olympic Black Power Statue and began chanting, “Free, free Palestine” on Wednesday afternoon.
Students for Justice in Palestine is a nonprofit organization at SJSU that advocates for protecting human rights for Palestinians, according to its Instagram page.
Lara Abdulrahman, a third-year biomedical engineering student, said the group decided to organize a protest because they’ve noticed an increased amount of oppression against students.
“Nationally, students on campus are very scared right now, and they might not want to risk coming out to a protest, especially if they're undocumented or on student visas,” Abdulrahman said.
Abdulrahman, who is also a part of the executive board for SJSU Students for Justice in Palestine, said the group had multiple demands for both the President Donald J. Trump administration and SJSU’s university administration.
She said the group is demanding to see an end to the criminalization of immigrant students and community members, see wide-spread disclosure and divestment away from companies that invest in Israel and not to support Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
In 2024, the United Nations Special Committee concluded that Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza were consistent with genocide, according to a Nov. 14, 2024 press release.
“The Trump administration has been getting campuses to comply in his (Trump’s) agenda and we want guarantees that our campus won't be one of those schools,” Abdulrahman said. “And that they will protect their students, even if it risks losing a certain amount of funding.”
During the march, the protesters walked past well-known landmarks on campus, including the Diaz Compean Student Union, the Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.
The protesters shouted multiple chants including “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go” and “We want justice we say now, Mahmoud Khalil.”
In March, federal immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student from Columbia University and a Palestinian activist who played a large role in the university’s protests against Israel, according to a March 9 AP News article.
U.S. Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans ruled in Louisiana that the Trump administration is allowed to deport Khalil because his presence could have “potentially serious foreign policy consequences,” according to a Friday article from AP News.
Abdulrahman said 10 to 20 students have shared with her that they are hesitant to be outspoken because they are concerned for their safety and security.
“We had definitely had a greater amount of people in the past (at past protests) and I think that is due to fear mongering, especially with student oppression and deportations,” she said.
Nationwide, there are 1,905,000 first-generation immigrant students, 407,899 undocumented students and 883,908 international students in higher education, according to a portal from Higher Ed Immigration.
Nikki F., a teacher education graduate student, said they decided to come to the protest because they don’t want to see people use the fight against anti-semitism as a way to justify colonialism and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
Nikki requested to not include her last name because they are concerned about how the Trump administration is attacking students who protest for the pro-Palestinian movement.
At the time of publishing, the federal government has revoked visas for 13 students at SJSU, according to an April 9 email sent by Michelle Smith McDonald, the senior director of media relations for the university.
“I'm the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. That's a really big part of my life and I very firmly and unequivocally believe that it's important to stop any form of genocide,” Nikki said. “I am repelled and disgusted by the way Zionists and this administration, both as in our government and SJSU administration, are attempting to weaponize the pain of Holocaust survivors and those who passed in the Holocaust to justify settler colonialism and genocide.”
Nikki said students are going to continue protesting in the future because the genocide is still happening.
Israeli airstrikes attacked part of the last central medical center in Gaza on Sunday, according to a Sunday article from NBC News.
Israel broke its ceasefire agreement with Hamas on March 18 by launching multiple airstrikes into the Gaza Strip, according to a March 19 NBC News article.
“Right now, under this current administration, people are – understandably – very caught up in the things happening in our country,” Nikki said. “That said, we're still seeing active, ongoing genocide in all of occupied Palestine.”
They said students need to continue putting pressure on SJSU and other universities to focus on investing their money into student and academic resources instead of companies financially connected to Israel.
One company Nikki said they want SJSU to divest from is Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin, a company that specializes in defense tech, has been collaborating with Israeli companies since 2004 and have multiple agreements in Israel, including to help produce aircrafts to support the Israeli Defense Force, according to its webpage.
“Instead of using the dwindling resources we have to fund student resources and support academic programs, (SJSU) they're funding programs in Lockheed Martin,” they said.
Associated Students (A.S.) Board of Directors support SJSU ending ties with self-identifying Zionist universities, according to their Sense of Senate.
SJSU has three graduate programs in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, including in business analytics, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Taylor Smith, a second-year studio and fine arts student, said they were not a protester but she supports what the protesters are fighting for.
Smith said they discovered the protest when she walked out of her class on Wednesday afternoon.
“I walked out of my class and I heard them from my class and I was intrigued, because I agree with what they're saying,” they said. “I agree that they stand for free Palestine and I agree that immigrants are welcome here and I agree that there's a problem.”
