(Emma G. Schaible / Fourth Estate)
Democrat group on campus set to join nationwide protests this week
BY RENATA PERNEGROVA, STAFF WRITER
The Democrats at Mason are organizing an “ICE OUT” protest at the east plaza of the Johnson Center on Wednesday, Feb. 4 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The demonstration is happening in the midst of nation-wide opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
“We want to show very clearly that we oppose ICE, DHS or any law enforcement agents on our campus,” GMU Democrats President Keely Calloway explained. “We don’t want them here.”
GMU Dems announced the event on their Instagram profile on Tuesday, Jan. 27. The day before, a phishing email circulated around the Mason community, spreading false information that ICE had recently visited campus. Mason’s Information Technology Services later confirmed this report was fake.
Calloway said the timing of the announcement and the emergence of the misinformation was a “total coincidence”
“We were brought to action by the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. [Pretti’s] death was a catalyst that set this whole protest in motion.”
Renee Good and Alex Pretti are the latest of eight reported deaths connected to ICE activities across the country since the beginning of 2026. Good and Pretti were shot in separate incidents in Minneapolis during confrontations with ICE agents. After Pretti’s death on Jan. 24, criticism for the behavior and infrastructure of ICE and the federal government arose.
Calloway confirmed the protest organized by GMU Dems is a public event featuring student speakers, and is in collaboration with a number of other clubs on campus, including the Black African Heritage and Caribbean Coalition and the Latin Student Association.
“We hope people will join as they’ll be leaving class; we welcome everyone,” Calloway said.
Calloway emphasized that the safety of each student on campus comes first.
“We understand that there might be international students with complicated immigration status who would like to join us, but please don’t if it may put you in danger. We, who have nothing to lose, will be there standing up for you,” she said.
Addressing the issue of safety, Aidan Jacobs, GMU Democrats operations assistant, confirmed that representatives from the George Mason Police Department “will be on-site, ensuring it is a peaceful, orderly protest.”
“I can assure that none of our members will act in a way that is disruptive or against the regular conduct during a peaceful protest,” Jacobs said.
He also emphasized that the protest is about protecting students rather than political strategy.
“As a political entity, we are using our platform and our voice to speak out for students from the victimized or marginalized groups that have been expressly targeted by ICE,” Jacobs said. “We are not trying to take advantage of some sort of political issue for our party.”
The protest has the potential to gain the attention of the federal government in Washington, D.C. There has been conflict between the Trump administration and the university since mid-2025.
Jacobs said the GMU Democrats are following the leadership of President Gregory Washington. “He has been an exceptional leader in protecting us and sticking up for our core values amid the threats from the government, and we are doing the exact same thing.”
“The situation now is different in Virginia after the November election,” Calloway added. “There is a new governor and the state as a whole is under [the] radar in Washington, D.C., so we are less out there.”
Mason is not the only university that will see a protest to resist ICE activities in the coming weeks.
Student groups from the University of Minnesota have been involved in a recent anti-ICE mobilization and called for a national shutdown action on Jan. 30, while student groups at the University of California organised on-campus walkouts which saw over 1,000 student participants.
