The chant “No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” echoed across Chambers Lawn on Feb. 27 as nearly one hundred student and faculty voices cut through the silence that typically envelopes Davidson’s campus during Common Hour. Holding signs reading “No Human is Illegal” and “United for Immigrant Justice,” the crowd marched around Chambers in a demonstration of solidarity.
“Say it once, say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!”
The rally was organized by Xaris Trigueros ‘28 and Liz Corral ‘28, co-founders of Immigrant Justice Support, in response to recent Trump administration immigration policies and to bring awareness to the experiences of students affected by these changes. For the co-founders, the issue of immigrant justice is deeply personal. Trigueros’ family originates from Honduras and Guatemala, and Corral’s family comes from Mexico; her father recently became a naturalized U.S. citizen. They felt compelled to organize a rally due to a lack of conversation on campus surrounding immigrant justice.
“Seeing protests at home in Dallas inspired us to do something here,” Trigueros said. “I saw the goal as starting conversations, making people see us and not letting us go unnoticed. The other goal, too, was community.”
Similarly, Corral pointed to anti-ICE, pro-immigrant protests in her hometown of Los Angeles as a source of inspiration.
“Being from LA and feeling like I couldn’t be there was really frustrating,” Corral said. “We wanted to create a community we felt was lacking. We realized that as students, we had more power than we thought we did, and we felt like if people who had generally more power than us weren’t doing anything, then it was our turn to take action.”
The rally was structured as both a march and an open forum for storytelling, intended for students from different backgrounds to share their personal experiences and stories. Alex Marron ‘27 initially attended the rally as a photographer and did not plan to speak, but she was moved by the powerful testimonies of other students.
“They gave everyone a platform or outlet to share their stories and experiences. By the first or second story, I was like ‘Wow this is incredible,’” Marron, whose father immigrated from Mexico as a teenager, stated. “It takes a lot of courage for people to organize something like this, and I’m very proud of the students who did that, and also for the people who were able to share their stories.”
Gael Sifuentes ‘28 praised the speakers for their vulnerability and honesty and appreciated how the organizers had fostered a safe space. Born in Torreón, Mexico, Sifuentes recognized the importance of advocating for immigrant rights in a space like Davidson, where more than 50 percent of the student body is white and may not have connections to immigration issues.
“There are these cases with some people whose parents are deported and they don’t see them for years,” Sifuentes said. “Since Davidson is a PWI [predominantly white institution], sometimes those kinds of topics are swept under the rug.”
Sifuentes recounted how personal the issue of immigration justice is to him and his family. “When me and my family went through the process of getting our visas and coming here, we had to renew constantly and my mom wasn’t able to do so. So we were split for a little while,” Sifuentes said.
In an interview following the event, Trigueros and Corral offered clear guidance to students not directly impacted by immigration policies. “The main part is educating yourself,” Corral explained. “Regardless of how you look or where you came from, be emotionally and empathetically open.”
Beyond the support of their peers, students appreciated that faculty also attended the rally. Marron saw two of her professors at the rally, and Sifuentes also saw his faculty mentor. Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Dr. Melissa González, attended the rally and felt compelled to speak on the topic of immigration justice.
“There’s something very powerful in the human performance of putting our bodies together, walking, chanting and [bringing] voices together to just express some feelings,” González said of the rally. “I know that the main organizers who took the lead were learning from upper class students who have previously organized activist events, but they were also doing this work that’s totally new to them and I was really inspired by the first-years participating.”
A.J. Jacobs ‘25, a senior involved with Students Against Imperialism (SAI), supported Trigueros and Corral as they planned the rally. SAI hosts weekly Liberation Library events where students read and discuss “areas of active imperial violence around the world,” as stated on the SAI Instagram, and Jacobs recently invited Trigueros and Corral to join.
“This was their thing, so I was just kind of supporting them through it,” Jacobs said. “What I really appreciated about the way that they planned it, is that they thoughtfully wanted it also to be a space for storytelling,”
Jacobs also noted the frustration of some speakers. “‘Why is Davidson being so silent? Why is the administration not addressing how this might be affecting students?’” Jacobs said, referencing some of the questions among students at the rally.
González acknowledged the complex landscape institutions must navigate in response to political issues, citing the college’s Statement of Purpose. “We recognize the dignity and worth of every person. We work to instill humane instincts in our students. At the same time, all these changes are happening,” González said. “I’m much more interested in what we as a community can do.”
Trigueros and Corral made clear that the rally is only the beginning of a larger ongoing dialogue around immigrant justice on campus.
“When we kept reiterating that this was the start of the conversation, we meant it,” Corral said, noting how they hope to connect with local advocacy groups like Carolina Migrant Network. “This wasn’t a one-time thing.”
