For students, one of the main functions of the University is almost certainly to ensure that they can receive the effective credentials to get a job post-college. Ritually the University hosts a jobs and internships fair in the fall and spring, as well as numerous recruitment events throughout both semesters. These fairs attract recruiters from all swaths of the public and private sectors — companies seeking to bolster their ranks with pupils of the University. Yet, many corporations that vie for students are the same corporations aiding some of the most abhorrent human rights abuses by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Therefore, the University should bar any company that has worked with ICE and CBP from recruiting students on Grounds.
ICE is an organization with an excess of blood on its hands. At least 24 people have died in ICE custody. Additionally, the organization has locked up children, treating immigrants inhumanely in the process. The length to which ICE goes to enact racist immigration policies is so relentless that they even set up a fake university in hopes of catching cases of immigration fraud. The sort of terror induced by ICE threatens our community. They tear apart families and deny people their right to safety and movement. Crucially, though, ICE is enabled by private companies that do everything from imprisoning immigrants to tracking potential targets.
Notable companies that aid the despicable practices of ICE and recruit students from the University include Deloitte, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Peraton, Perspecta and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Deloitte is one of the largest benefactors of ICE, collecting $42 million dollars in 2019 for their help terrorizing immigrants. The work Deloitte does includes “facilities management” for ICE detention centers in addition to a variety of more generic consulting. ICE facilities have been cesspools of abuse and torment — most recently the health and safety standards have dropped even lower, further threatening the lives of ICE’s victims. Deloitte also has strong ties with the University. It runs a competition, “Deloitte Consulting National Undergraduate Case Competition,” which portrays itself as inviting for students “interested in learning about consulting as a career.” They also host interview prep for commerce students. Not only should a company like Deloitte not get specific, special access to students, but it should be banned from Grounds. Companies that profit from and enable horrid human rights abuses should not get a free pass to recruit students from the University.
General Dynamics closely collaborates with ICE and CBP, but they also specialize in facilitating the detention of children. They often list jobs directly related to tracking and managing children in custody of CPB, such as a “data-entry position within… [a] case-coordination program for undocumented children that will, among other things, monitor youths’ cases as they move through the system.” The detention and mistreatment of children is one of the most despicable crimes of ICE and the apprehension of children is a practice that has received widespread condemnation. General Dynamics has helped CBP detain and immiserate children dating all the way back to the Obama administration. It was heinous then, and it continues to be evil now. Those that profit off of the separation of families deserve to be investigated for human rights abuses and not welcomed at the University to recruit students.
Refusing recruitment to contractors of ICE also prevents other large companies from recruiting directly from the University. Amazon is an essential contractor with ICE that provides cloud computing storage. The creation of the School of Data Science and the locating of Amazon in Virginia means there is a growing chance that the University becomes a hub of recruitment for Amazon. University President Jim Ryan seems unconcerned with the local and broader implications of Amazon being connected with the University, and even said, “We look forward to working with Amazon to see how we can best work together to create opportunities for their existing and potential employees in the Northern Virginia area.”
The practices of ICE and CBP are among the most monstrous of the Trump administration. To the extent that the University can isolate the private companies that actively enable ICE’s and CBP’s terror, it should. Students should also be vigilant. It represents the absolute worst impulses of society that students would be willing to work for companies dedicated to profiting through human misery.
Jacob Wartel is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.
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