Yale students hold teach-in urging divestment from ICE-linked companies

According to an original report by the Yale Daily News, members of the Endowment Justice Collective hosted a teach-in this week urging students to organize against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in New Haven and renew pressure on Yale University to divest from companies allegedly linked to the agency.

The meeting, held Tuesday evening in Phelps Hall, drew about 30 students. Organizers structured the presentation into three sections titled “ICE out of our streets,” “ICE out of our endowment,” and “how we’ll win,” the Yale Daily News reported. The event combined community guidance on immigration enforcement with a renewed push for changes to Yale’s investment policies.

One attendee, Abraham Rebollo-Trujillo DRA ’26, told the Yale Daily News that concerns about ICE operations in New Haven and Yale’s financial investments motivated her participation. As the child of immigrants, she said she is closely connected to immigrant rights issues.

Guidance on identifying ICE activity in New Haven

As reported by the Yale Daily News, presenters advised students on how to identify ICE officers and vehicles in the area. They described unmarked vehicles with tinted windows and officers who may wear identifying badges or symbols, or casual clothing while carrying radios and handcuffs.

Organizers encouraged students to take direct action by signing up for “ICE watch” shifts at the New Haven courthouse, accompanying immigrants to court appearances and supporting affected families. The goal, according to the presentation, was to build awareness and community response capacity around immigration enforcement in the city.

The teach-in took place against the backdrop of expanded immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, whose administration began a second term in January and has implemented a mass deportation campaign. The Yale Daily News report referenced recent ICE crackdowns nationally, including operations in Minneapolis.

Divestment push focuses on Palantir

A central focus of the event was Yale’s endowment investments. According to the Yale Daily News, organizers urged the University to divest from corporations they believe support ICE operations, particularly Palantir Technologies.

Students alleged during the presentation that Palantir’s data tools enable surveillance and deportation targeting. Media reports cited in the Yale Daily News indicated that ICE uses a Palantir database to find and track individuals for deportation and that the agency has entered into significant contracts with the company to build surveillance platforms.

Last fall, members of the Endowment Justice Collective went through Yale’s formal review channels to request divestment from Palantir, along with other corporations including natural gas companies and weapons manufacturers. In January, Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) declined to recommend changes to investment eligibility policies.

A University spokesperson told the Yale Daily News that the committee’s review of a topic does not necessarily indicate that the endowment holds a specific investment. The spokesperson added that the University encourages concerned groups to follow the ACIR’s established process. The ACIR’s guidelines are outlined in “The Ethical Investor,” first published in 1972, which defines the framework for ethical investment decisions.

Organizers at the teach-in criticized what they described as a lengthy and opaque divestment process and expressed frustration at the lack of communication following the rejection of their proposal. According to the Yale Daily News, students said they had not been contacted by the advisory committee or administrators since their pitch was denied.

Historical precedent and continued organizing

The presentation concluded with references to past student activism that resulted in divestment decisions. The Yale Daily News reported that organizers highlighted Yale’s 2006 divestment from oil companies operating in Sudan during the Darfur genocide as an example of successful campus advocacy.

According to Isabel Matos ’28, a second, “identical” teach-in was held later in the week in Linsly-Chittenden Hall. She told the Yale Daily News that the lecture hall, which has a capacity of 149 students, was filled.

Organizers ended the slideshow on an optimistic note, asserting that student organizing at Yale has historically influenced institutional policy and could do so again.
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