Campus resources to support graduate students

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 14:07:36 -0500

My dear friends and colleagues,

As you may have noticed, leaders at UMBC will stay in contact with all of us throughout this semester. If you ever want to find all of that messaging and associated resources in one place, this is it: https://umbc.edu/ogrca/federal-changes/

As UMBC staff and administration get additional sites online and/or updated -- such as this one, which update I am told is in progress now: https://enrollment.umbc.edu/undocumentedresources/ -- those will appear on the page above as well.

Also, while I appreciate the guidance there about what to do should you encounter Federal Immigration Enforcement agents on campus ( https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/announcements/posts/147077 ), I realize that it may be unclear to many of us what exactly is and is not a "judicial warrant." This document from the National Immigration Law Center discusses that matter at some length: https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2025-Subpoenas-Warrants.pdf

Here is a relevant excerpt from page 3:

• A judicial warrant is a formal written order authorizing a law enforcement officer to make an arrest, a seizure, or a search. A judicial warrant is issued by a judicial court. Courts that issue judicial warrants include both state and federal courts, such as a “Superior Court of California” or a “U.S. District Court,” and a judicial warrant is signed by a judge or magistrate judge. Furthermore, judicial warrants must be complied with, and there are serious consequences for refusing to comply with a judicial warrant. Note that a warrant signed by an immigration judge is not a judicial warrant.

• An administrative warrant is a formal written document authorizing a law enforcement officer from a designated federal agency, such as an ICE agent from DHS, to make an arrest or a seizure. An administrative warrant is issued by a federal agency such as DHS and can be signed by an “immigration judge” or an “immigration officer.” Unlike a judicial warrant, an administrative warrant does not authorize a search. Therefore, an ICE agent who has only an administrative warrant may not conduct a search based on the warrant, though, in certain circumstances, the administrative warrant would authorize the agent to make a seizure or arrest.

Now, I am no attorney, but I understand all of the above information taken together to mean that immigration enforcement cannot search private spaces at UMBC such as residence halls, classrooms, laboratories, and administrative and faculty offices without a search warrant signed by a judge in a district, county, state, or federal court -- someone who is not just an "immigration judge."

One might say that they cannot open the doors to such spaces if we were to close them.

If you have questions or concerns in the coming days that you want to see addressed, I will discreetly make inquiries on your behalf. Please let me know what we can do to better support you.

Sending all the strength and love I can muster out to all of you,

Jessica