Border agency stops recruiting students at some universities as protests grow

CBP drops out of four campus job fairs

U.S. Customs and Border Protection backed out of spring career fairs at four American universities this year.

Saint Louis University, Villanova, Western Michigan University, and the University of Maine all lost CBP from their upcoming events.

The withdrawals came as students and faculty across the country pushed back against the agency’s recruiting on campuses during the Trump administration’s national deportation campaign.

Neither CBP nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to media requests about the pullouts.

A fatal shooting added fuel to the protests

CBP officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse, in January 2026 after he tried to help a woman officers had pushed to the ground.

Pretti’s death turned already growing campus anger into something harder to ignore.

Student activists at multiple schools argued that letting CBP recruit on campus made immigrant students and community members feel unwelcome and unsafe.

The shooting, combined with the broader immigration crackdown, pushed more students to organize against the agency’s presence.

Saint Louis University warned CBP about disruptions

CBP had signed up for a March 4 job fair at Saint Louis University. But university leaders told the agency they expected student disruptions at the event.

After that conversation, CBP pulled out and asked for a refund on its registration.

A local news outlet reported that the university disinvited CBP, but the school’s spokesperson said that the account was not accurate.

Saint Louis University said it still connects students with CBP through its online jobs portal.

Villanova says CBP made the call

At Villanova, CBP had been included through the university’s standard outreach to employers who attended past career events.

But once news of the agency’s planned attendance spread, students took to social media asking the school to block CBP from campus.

Before the university had to make a decision, CBP told Villanova’s Career Center it would not attend. The university made clear that the decision came from CBP, not from Villanova.

The agency gave no public explanation for its withdrawal.

Two more schools saw similar cancellations

Western Michigan University said CBP canceled its own registration before student social media campaigns even started. A CBP spokesperson said the agency was looking into why the cancellation happened.

At the University of Maine, CBP disappeared from the career fair’s employer list just days after students and the Graduate Workers Union called for a boycott.

Neither school confirmed whether CBP withdrew on its own or was asked to leave. The pattern, though, looked the same at both campuses.

Ohio State protesters forced an early exit

At Ohio State University, CBP showed up at a January career fair alongside more than 150 other employers. About 75 students and community members protested inside and outside the ballroom.

Campus police gave multiple warnings, then arrested three people, including two students, for criminal trespass. CBP recruiters packed up and left about 30 minutes into the four-hour event.

The agency had attended Ohio State’s career fair for several years running.

Columbia pulled an online listing and changed policy

Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies posted a listing for a Feb. 18 CBP virtual career expo on its website. This was not an in-person booth but an online event listing.

Faculty members circulated a letter demanding its removal, calling it damaging to campus trust. Columbia took down the listing and changed its policy to only promote events that the school itself organizes.

The listing had come through 12twenty, a third-party recruitment platform that also hosts postings for the CDC, EPA, FBI, and other federal agencies.

Third-party platforms put CBP on campus sites

Several universities said they never specifically invited CBP.

The agency’s listings showed up through third-party recruitment platforms like 12twenty and Handshake.

At Indiana University, similar CBP virtual career expo listings appeared through Handshake without the school’s direct involvement.

Multiple schools said CBP was part of standard processes for returning employers or platform-generated postings. Faculty at several campuses questioned how those listings got approved without review.

Protests followed CBP at other campuses too

CBP still attended career fairs at some schools, but not without pushback. At Brigham Young University, about 200 people protested outside while CBP staffed a booth inside.

A BYU faculty member and her husband wore pro-immigrant T-shirts near the booth and security asked them to leave after 30 minutes.

Students at the University of Georgia, Cornell, and Utah Valley University also staged demonstrations. At Utah Valley, members of the Civil Disobedience Club held a sit-in outside the ballroom.

Schools defended keeping CBP on the schedule

Many universities declined to disinvite CBP, saying they welcome a wide range of employers and that student attendance is voluntary.

Several schools pointed out that CBP has attended their career fairs for multiple years in a row. Ohio State’s spokesperson confirmed the agency had been a regular presence at the fair.

At the University of North Florida, a spokesperson said CBP has recruited on campus since 2018. The schools treated the fairs as open marketplaces, not endorsements.

Some students and others backed CBP recruitment

Not everyone opposed CBP’s campus presence. At Ohio State, the College Republicans defended CBP’s participation in the career fair.

College Republicans at Utah Valley University said they welcomed CBP and hoped the agency would return for future events.

A retired teacher quoted in coverage of the Columbia situation called the listing removal hypocritical, saying schools that promote choice were denying students a legitimate career option.

The debate reflects a broader national divide over immigration enforcement.

Campus backlash has happened before, but not like this

Opposition to CBP and ICE recruiting on campuses has popped up before during periods of heightened immigration enforcement.

In 2019, San Jose City College asked a job fair organizer to pull CBP’s invitation, citing the distress it could cause immigrant students.

But the current wave of protests is larger and more widespread, spanning public and private universities across the country.

As the spring recruiting season continues, more schools may face similar pressure from students and faculty.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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