Former acting ICE chief Tom Homan was supposed to speak during an event at the University of Pennsylvania this week, but student protesters decided they were more important. They made such a scene that the school ended up cancelling the event.Homan left the stage amid loud chants of “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here.”Pia Singh reports at the Daily Pennsylvanian:
Before former ICE director speaks, Penn shuts the event down citing loud student chantsPerry World House abruptly ended a scheduled event Wednesday on immigration policy and escorted guests off the stage after one of the speakers, former United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan, was met with dozens of student protesters.Students wielding signs that read, “Abolish ICE” and “No one is illegal on stolen land,” gathered inside and outside of Perry World House minutes before the “Detention and Deportation from Obama to Trump” event, which was scheduled to take place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Before the protest, more than 500 students and alumni signed a petition demanding that Penn cancel the event because of controversial policies Homan implemented when he led ICE.At about 4:45 p.m., protesters lined the outside of the building and sat in the event room filled with attendees. The students inside were chanting, “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here” and “Go home Homan.”An official standing in front of the audience attempted to talk about Penn’s First Amendment rights and the event’s intention over the protesters, but they continued chanting.
Here’s a video, via Campus Reform:
This all began before the day of the scheduled event. Students and some alums were circulating a petition demanding that Homan not be allowed to speak at the school.
The College Fix reported:
Hundreds of U. Pennsylvania students want former ICE director banned from speaking on campusOver 400 University of Pennsylvania students and alumni have signed a petition requesting the school ban former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan from speaking on campus.Homan is scheduled to speak at the event “Detention and Deportation from Obama to Trump” at the university’s Perry World House today.Joining Homan are Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, director of Children and Family Services at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and Sozi Tulante, Philadelphia’s former city solicitor who challenged the Trump administration’s attempts to withhold federal funding from the city because of its “sanctuary status.”According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the petition states
Under Homan, ICE continued to be a violent organization responsible for terrorizing immigrant communities, for the separation of immigrant families, and for the persistent violation of the human rights of immigrants and their loved ones. Consequently, inviting Homan as a guest speaker contradicts Penn’s claim of being a sanctuary campus that is committed to ensuring the well-being and safety of all of its students.
Homan spoke to FOX News about what happened:
Schools need to start anticipating this sort of thing and planning events accordingly.
Featured image via YouTube.
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