DePaul’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America is petitioning to establish the university as a sanctuary campus.

The campaign for sanctuary campuses, an initiative of chapters across the nation aiming to protect students from immigration raids, comes as the Trump administration increases its Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in Chicago as part of its “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The Young Democratic Socialists of America’s (YDSA) current petition is the second iteration of their campaign to make DePaul a sanctuary campus. The organization initially collaborated with other student groups at the end of the 2024-2025 school year to form a petition with much broader demands. However, following immigration crackdowns in September, YDSA narrowed the list to immigrant-centered demands. 

“That became our main concern, especially after the violent nature of the federal government coming to Chicago and the rhetoric around that,” said Aris Taşhan, co-chair of DePaul’s chapter. “We want our school to be a safe space for people.” 

Gram Van Buren, a steering committee member, said the initial campaign with other student groups focused on protecting the rights of various groups like immigrants and people of color at the beginning of Trump’s administration.

“We’re still trying to support all these other organizations with their campaigns, just not through this sanctuary campaign,” Van Buren said. “We … just really wanted to direct one thing that’s going to be the most effective way of actually getting significant changes on our campus.” 

The YDSA’s demands detail five commitments for DePaul to make in order to protect students and staff along with proposals for facilitating the demands. The commitments include prohibiting cooperation with immigration enforcement without approved criminal warrants, training and educating students on their rights with regards to immigration enforcement, protecting students particularly vulnerable to immigration raids and using Public Safety alerts to inform students of immigration enforcement officers’ presence around campus. 

DePaul’s University Communications told The DePaulia that although the petition has not yet been delivered to the university, DePaul is already addressing many of the topics covered in the petition. 

“DePaul regularly engages with student organizations to listen to their perspectives and concerns, and we are open to hearing more from students on this topic,” Dania Matos, vice president for diversity, inclusion and belonging, said in an email to The DePaulia.

DePaul hosted a Community Care Panel on Oct. 3, where legal experts and DePaul administrators discussed the increased immigration enforcement presence, answered questions and provided students with resources.

“The goal of this panel was to reaffirm that no one at DePaul faces these challenges alone and to ensure that everyone has access to the information and support needed to feel safe, informed, and supported,” Matos said. 

In an Instagram post about the petition, YDSA acknowledged DePaul’s role in assisting students targeted by ICE but said, “HOWEVER, when DePaul students get racially profiled, stopped, detained, and/or visa’s revoked, and there’s not single word publicly condemning these actions, the existing policies and procedures in place can only be seen as ENABLING fascist immigration enforcement to continue.”

The student body has overwhelmingly supported the petition. Van Buren said the chapter currently has 1,750 signatures on the petition and is aiming for 2,500 by the end of October. 

“When we relaunched it this quarter, it’s been very successful,” Van Buren said. “The majority of the student body is very receptive to this issue.” 

Steering committee member Cordelia Yeargan added that the petition’s demands are strictly in the interest of protecting students, since YDSA was simply “asking for rules and keyed access and safety and hypervigilance.” 

“We don’t want to endanger students more by creating direct, violent confrontation between the university and ICE,” Yeargan said. “That’s untenable.” 

YDSA members said the campaign is not meant to antagonize DePaul; instead, it is encouraging the administration to take further action to protect students.

“I can’t stress enough that this is not a campaign. We’re not against DePaul,” Taşhan said. “They’re doing a lot more than other schools.”

 

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