A small group of students walked out of class Wednesday morning at the University of Texas at Austin, gathering beneath the Tower to demand that the university take concrete steps to protect immigrant and international students.

Organized by the Austin chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the demonstration responded to what organizers called “federal repression” under President Trump’s crackdown on immigration and UT’s quiet in the face of it.

Students chanted “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!” Some held banners in the Main Mall. One of SDS’s central demands is for UT Austin to declare itself a sanctuary campus, an action they say would offer meaningful protection to undocumented and international students.

“We’re not just going to stand around and hope things get better,” said Amin Mashhoon, a speaker at the event. “The Constitution is a legal guarantee. It doesn’t give us our rights. My rights don’t come from a politician. … They’re innate. They cannot be taken away.”

According to the group’s Instagram, their demands include prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from entering campus buildings without a judicial warrant, issuing a public statement in support of immigrant students, and providing legal and Know Your Rights resources through campus offices.

Several speakers shared personal stories. “I was born in Iran,” said Ava Hosseini. “My parents moved to this country to give their daughter the gift for which so many parents across the world have died; American freedoms, a liberal education. … The U.S. government is punishing innocent people for their broken immigration system. But this is not just about ICE raids. This is about the fact that the university has systemically suppressed our freedom to protest.”

Protesters pointed to a wave of student visa revocations and the recent ICE arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University as signs of growing federal targeting.

Senior Laysha Gonzalez called the university’s complicity a betrayal. “If UT wants to preach that they are a world-class institution, that ‘the truth shall set you free,’ I’m sorry, but I don’t think you know the truth,” Gonzalez said. “Because I’m the truth. We are the truth.”

Organizers said the administration ignored previous attempts to engage. “We delivered a letter with over 130 signatures and support from a dozen student organizations,” said Arshia Papari, SDS organizer and the protest’s spokesperson. “We gave them a deadline of March 28. We got no response. That’s why we walked out.”

Luca Reyes, organizer with SDS, said this is not the first time UT has been unresponsive to their requests.

In February, SDS organized a similar protest at Littlefield Fountain following unconfirmed reports of ICE’s presence on campus, as well as escalating federal enforcement actions. Despite gathering over 100 students and community members, they received no formal acknowledgment from UT administrators.

“The university’s unwillingness to even speak to us in person shows how little regard they have for our safety,” Reyes said. “We’ve made concrete demands – like requiring judicial warrants for ICE entry and Know Your Rights trainings. We’re not asking for much. We’re asking to be protected.”

The protest ended with Papari and another SDS member walking up to the president’s office to demand a meeting, but they were turned away and instead asked to email the president’s office, something Papari said they had done before with no response.

“We understand that there’s very little hope in having an email be able to resolve these issues,” Papari said. “We are prepared to escalate further on this issue, and we have the support and the means to do so.”