UMD students press for ‘sanctuary campus’ after classmate detained by ICE

Student activists at the University of Maryland met on Zoom on Thursday night to form a plan of action in response to their classmate Maria Flores Garcia’s detention by immigration agents.

Flores Garcia accompanied her mother to her routine immigration appointment in Baltimore last week when both women were detained.

The students, including those representing the university’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America who organized the event, expressed their frustration over losing a classmate.

“Even though a lot of us didn’t know her personally, we still feel that sorrow and that anger for what happened to her, because it’s incredibly unjustifiable,” Manasvi Tata, a junior who is a cochair of YDSA’s communications committee, said.

They also criticized their school’s response, demanding that the administration call for Flores Garcia’s immediate release and send a campuswide email with news of the event.

The university acknowledged Flores Garcia’s detention, which happened off campus, and said it is working to connect her loved ones with elected officials, in a statement Tuesday night.

Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy called for Flores Garcia’s immediate release. Gov. Wes Moore, U.S. Reps. Glenn Ivey and Steny Hoyer, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen have also criticized the detention of Flores Garcia and her mother.

It’s not the first time U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has taken a member of the university’s community into custody. Dr. Berhanu Kibret, an instructor in the pharmacy school, was detained by federal agents at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport after traveling to Texas to receive a teaching award.

The university has not responded to the YDSA-led initiative dating to September 2025 to designate its home in College Park as a “sanctuary campus.” The sanctuary campus campaign came in response to the aggressive deportation tactics deployed by President Donald Trump from the outset of his second term, Tata said.

Sanctuary campuses don’t have a legal definition, but other universities, including Portland State, have adopted the designation.

UMD student organizers have said a sanctuary campus means the school would block ICE agents and the Department of Homeland Security from on-campus recruiting events and refuse to comply with immigration enforcement actions, among other things.

“It would be very important in providing the [immigrant] community a sense of safety and belonging and having the understanding that the university is on their side and it will protect them,” Tata said.

When asked for a response to students’ demands, the University of Maryland sent a statement to The Banner saying its thoughts remain with Flores Garcia, her family and her friends.

“Students are organizing rallies, university leadership is meeting with community members and university officials have made connections to elected officials who are working on this issue. They are keeping the public informed on their efforts to advocate on behalf of our student,” the university wrote.

Organizers said students are planning to “pack the room” at Friday’s University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents meeting at UMD Baltimore County. They’re also planning a protest outside UMD-College Park’s administration building Friday afternoon.