Student and community organizations are rallying today (4/17/25) outside Murphy Hall following the detention of a UCLA student at the US-Mexico border by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Organizers are calling on community members to “demand UCLA respond with strong support for this student & CBP release them from detention immediately.”
The student was detained after they attempted to return to the US from Mexico and is currently held at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego. Over 120 students across California, including at least a dozen at UCLA, have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration in the past month.
This post, updated by members of our News Department, seeks to provide up-to-date developments about the demonstration and will be periodically updated. The News Department will also maintain immediate, real-time updates on X (formerly Twitter):
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6:16pm — Rally closes with mass chants
Members of the Rank & File caucus of UAW 4811 tell demonstrators to “remember that a rally is just a place to meet like-minded people.” They urge protestors to join the community defense network. The rally closes with a chant of “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
6:07pm — The last speaker from SJP honors Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day
The speaker talks about the UC’s collaboration with ICE and involvement in the war in Palestine. They condemn the UC for its policies surrounding ICE and make heavy comparisons between UC students in fear of ICE and Palestinians in fear of Israeli forces.
6:02pm — Next speaker is from the UC Divest Coalition
They speak about how militarized US foreign policy is then deployed on people in the US, including students and workers at the UC and undocumented people. They urge protestors to channel fear and anger into action and condemn Julio Frenk, saying “we will not allow you to sell out your students with impunity.”
5:49pm — Speakers call for unity among marginalized groups
A speaker states “Now more than ever we need unity across all marginalized groups…unite against our enemy; the UCPD, the US federal government, and the UC Regents.” Another discusses the role of coalition building in community organizing and draws parallels between the student protests of the past year and those against the war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 1970s.
5:46pm — New speaker talks about the fight against Palestine erasure
The speaker condemns Steve Lurie for allowing UCPD to collaborate with ICE. They say that the fight against Palestinian erasure is connected to all struggles to preserve identity.
5:32pm — Professors address the protestors
After more chants and the brief appearance of UCPD cars clearing traffic, a professor is introduced to discuss the detained student and explain how UCLA faculty were denied the opportunity to deliver a letter to administration regarding their response to federal immigration policies. The second professor discusses the “broad attack on universities” and says that “Columbia folded” to the Trump administration, met with boos from the crowd.
5:22pm — Immigration lawyers speak out in front of the protest
“We must stand together and say enough is enough,” one lawyer says as he addresses the protestors.
5:18pm — Members of R&F at UCLA speak
The members of the Rank and File for a Democratic Union caucus of UAW 4811 join to condemn the detainment of a UAW graduate worker and “to demand the UC protect students and workers.”
5:14pm — Chants start among the crowd, having grown to about 150 people
Students shout “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go”; “From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the US war machine”; and “No ICE, No KKK, No Fascist USA.”
5:05pm — Around 100 protestors gather outside Murphy Hall
Signs from across the political spectrum are present, including some that read “No business as usual,” Estudiantes y Trabajadores Unidos,” and “As a Zionist, attacks on our students are not okay”
5:00pm — Protesters start to gather outside Murphy Hall
Students are gathering outside Murphy Hall in response to an emergency call for action by groups that include the UC Divest Coalition and the Rank & File for a Democratic Union caucus of UAW 4811. Protesters are demanding from UCLA “strong support” for the detained student and increased transparency regarding the university’s response to student visa cancellations by the Trump administration.
