ICE Is Using a University Building as a Deportation Office and the University Says It Can't Do Anything About It

[erronis]

https://www.404media.co/ice-is-using-a-university-building-as-a-deportation-office-and-the-university-says-it-cant-do-anything-about-it/
Jason Koebler, Joseph Cox

The Milwaukee School of Engineering is largely powerless to kick ICE out of a building it wanted to turn into a new academic center, according to audio of a meeting obtained by 404 Media.

A university in Milwaukee is stuck with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as its tenant after the agency refused to leave a building the university intended to renovate into an architectural and civil engineering classroom building. Instead, the building is being used as an office for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, the main part of ICE performing Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

The situation has created a nightmare for administrators at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and a morally untenable situation for many students. ICE is quite literally running deportation operations out of a university-owned building, and, according to the university, it can’t do anything about it. 404 Media obtained a recording of a meeting between students and university administrators which discussed ICE’s ongoing use of the building.

In 2023, an alum of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) sold a building at 310 E. Knapp St. to the school for a massive discount, with the intention of the building being renovated and turned into an academic facility. At the time, ICE was a tenant of the building but was in the process of building a new office elsewhere in Milwaukee. Its lease was set to expire in April, but ICE, through the General Services Administration (GSA) which handles real estate for the federal government, unilaterally extended the lease through April of next year and has the option to remain in the building through 2028, the university says. The university says there is nothing it can legally do to evict ICE. Concerned students say the situation is untenable and immoral—the university is now collecting rent directly from the government, and ICE is processing undocumented immigrants from the office.

“Can you see how it might look like MSOE is helping facilitate their mass deportation effort?” a student asked university administrators at a meeting about the building last week, according to audio obtained by 404 Media. “It feels like the federal government’s goals and objectives of mass deportation right now outweigh the academic use of that building for MSOE,” another said.

. . .

[SamKnause]

1. Ask for your tuition back.

I doubt you would be successful.

As soon as it is feasible transfer.

I don't know of any other options.

This is fucking insanity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to fucking freak out if I see Ice or the National Guard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ms. Toad]

2. I'd say it's time for a whistle brigade right outside the buiding, 24/7. n/t

[nilram]

3. Needs some creative electrical engineering

students to do some monkey wrenching. Maybe a robotics student has a device to surreptitiously "fix" tires. Or someone in the biology program might know about laxatives for birds.