Rider community raises concerns about ICE in the area

By Cal Sutton

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been active in New Jersey, as well as widespread across the country, causing stress and discomfort for students and faculty alike at Rider.

Barbara Franz, a political science professor with a specialization in migration, immigration and refugee movements, shared her concern about ICE due to the large minority and immigrant populations at Rider and surrounding areas, calling for them to get the protection she said they deserve.

“I know [ICE] poses a risk to students,” Franz said. “We have students who look like immigrants, might even be immigrants, some have immigrant parents and are American … and ICE wanted to arrest them.”

Within Franz’s research, she found that immigrants make up less arrests for violent crimes, property crimes and drug crimes than U.S.-born citizens.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “US-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes.”

Emotions regarding ICE are heightened in recent days, according to Franz, who said, “[ICE] stifles a lot of joy and happiness … people might not go to church anymore, people might not go to the grocery store anymore if they don’t have to, they might not go to school anymore.”

Franz referenced a sense of “chronic stress” that immigrants are experiencing at the moment, stating that, “It’s a very dark period for many of us, and just because some of us are not immigrants does not mean that they will not eventually come after us.”

The Rider News conducted a survey asking for students’ responses to a variety of questions related to their feelings about ICE in Rider’s community and across the country.

62 students expressed a heightened fear around ICE, whereas 12 students said they did not feel any sense of fear regarding ICE, according to the survey.

One student responded, “I am fearful of something happening to my community or close relatives!”

Though many students perceive ICE as a threat to themselves or others, not all of them feel this way. One respondent said, “They are law enforcement officers enforcing our country’s immigration policies, like it or not.”

Students on campus felt that they and their peers are not knowledgeable enough about what is happening in the community regarding ICE, according to the survey, which depicted 93 respondents who said they did not believe the campus community was well informed about ICE; 13 said they were.

Jacob Hubbs, a junior history major, said that while ICE is doing the job they are ordered to do, they do not have “trigger discipline,” in reference to ICE-related fatalities in Minnesota last month.

“It’s been happening, we’ve just elected to ignore it,” Hubbs said. “We’ve just elected to ignore it until it affected [white people].”

He also explained that this stance on immigration is not new. Hubbs continued, “Anti-immigrant rhetoric has been mainstream in politics … since I can remember, growing up.”

President of Rider’s chapter of Turning Point USA Mason Capasso, a junior marketing major, said, “ICE has an aggressive presence, because they are here investigating serious crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling and detaining illegals who have entered the United States.”

Capasso explained that ICE has been active in the U.S. for over 20 years and that they worked under past presidential administrations as well. He said that citizen action is contributing to ICE’s aggression in recent times.

Capasso continued, “I think it’s best the citizens avoid interacting with law enforcement, because in the end it’s just causing more harm and controversy across the world.”

Rider’s response

Rider sent a universitywide email regarding ICE on Jan. 29, 2025, stating that students, faculty and staff should contact Public Safety, not interact with any federal agents unless directing them to Public Safety and ensure the safety of their peers and colleagues. The campus community has not received any updates in over a year.

Students at both Rowan University and TCNJ received messages addressing ICE’s presence in their campus communities in 2026.

Rowan held a Know Your Rights “Immigration and Public Safety Education” workshop on Feb. 10.

In a Feb. 2 email from TCNJ’s president addressed to the campus community, students were urged to direct federal agents to Campus Police or the Office of the General Counsel. Students were also advised that only the General Counsel accepts formal documents such as subpoenas, so students do not need to accept them.

After a request for an interview for Public Safety’s input on the situation of ICE’s presence in the Rider community, Director of Public Safety Matthew Babcock said “I was informed that I am not permitted to speak on this matter,” in a Feb. 6 email to The Rider News.

In an Oct. 6 interview with The Rider News, Babcock stated that Public Safety’s goal is, “More or less, to be the intermediary between any kind of federal law enforcement agency that comes on campus, the students and the administration on campus.”

“If you see anybody on campus; ICE, federal agents, direct them to Public Safety so we can be that intermediary,” Babcock continued.

Vice President for Finance, Chief Administrative Officer and Treasurer Thomas Papa declined a request to comment from The Rider News, due to the “nature of the topic,” in a Feb. 7 email.

Vice President of Community Engagement and Belonging Darryl Mace stated in a Feb. 9 email to The Rider News, “Rider University administration is monitoring these activities, and the University has a set protocols in place should agents come to campus.”

Rider has a page on its website which includes “Know Your Rights” literature and resources for individuals without citizenship status.

“We have made efforts to ensure our community members know their rights and how to respond if they encounter agents,” Mace said.

Along with Rider’s provided resources, the American Civil Liberties Union has social media templates and cards that have information on the rights everyone holds in ICE encounters, including refusal to consent to a search, the right to remain silent and the right to record any interactions with immigration agents.

While ICE’s presence in the Rider community has been a cause for stress, as Franz noted, there are resources available to help handle an encounter with ICE agents.

“Record [ICE encounters], know your rights, stand up for your colleagues and your friends, protect them if you can and get involved,” Franz said.