FIU police chief pledges no racial profiling under pending deal to help ICE
Florida International University Chief of Police Alexander Casas repeatedly assured students and faculty on Wednesday that his department would not engage in racial profiling under its pending agreement to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. The plan has drawn mounting backlash from the predominantly Hispanic school’s students and faculty.
At an emotional, two-hour forum attended by nearly 200 students, faculty and community members, Casas faced pointed questions about ICE’s controversial 287(g) program which the university signed onto in April. If enacted, a group of trained FIU officers would be given the authority to stop, question, and in some cases detain individuals suspected of being in the country illegally.
Seated on a panel with immigrant rights advocates and legal experts — FIU law professor Juan Carlos Gómez; Alana Greer of the Miami-based Community Justice Project; Renata Bozzetto, deputy director for the Florida Immigrant Coalition; and FIU student Dariel Gomez — Casas promised that FIU officers wouldn’t question individuals on campus without a warrant or probable cause.
But when asked by moderator Clara-Sophia Daly, Miami Herald’s education reporter, to define what could constitute probable cause to determine if a person was undocumented, Casas said, “I couldn’t tell you.” Probable cause would be determined on a case by case basis, he said.
The chief refrained from making broad statements regarding what is and is not probable cause without having undergone the 287(g) training yet, though he did clearly state that his officers who are trained as part of this program will be able to question people in public spaces if they have a set of facts or evidence leading them to believe a crime occurred.
Other key details of the yet-to-be-finalized agreement remain uncertain — including how much the program will cost the department, what mechanisms exist for reimbursement and when officers would undergo the required 40-hour training.
Immigration policy in Florida and in the nation has been changing rapidly since President Trump began his second term which has presented a challenge to citizens, immigrants, undocumented individuals, attorneys and law enforcement alike.
Read more: Florida attorney general digs in against judge blocking new state immigration law
“It’s a mess,” Casas told the Miami Herald prior to the forum regarding the rapid changes in immigration policy. “What do we do? What do we not do?”
Yet the chief, who has been with the FIU Police Department for 21 years and is a graduate of the school, made the voluntary decision nonetheless to enter into the agreement, without community input, saying that he believes it is in the best interest of the campus community.
As signs reading “NO ICE ON CAMPUS” and “PAWS OFF OUR STUDENTS” waved in the crowd, Casas attempted to assuage other concerns about the plan, emphasizing it wouldn’t extend the university police department’s presence into K-12 schools or hinder its ability to address other issues on campus.
He also clarified questions from professors regarding which spaces on campus are public, and which are private. In public spaces, officers who are trained as part of the 287(g) program can question individuals about their residency without a warrant if there is probable cause.
Most areas on campus such as the lawns, classrooms, public areas of residence halls and open office spaces are public.
But in private spaces, such as an individual dorm room, or a fully enclosed office, an arrest warrant is required.
The chief clearly stated there will be no clear way to identify which officers on campus have been trained to act as ICE agents. They will not wear a special badge.
Juan Gomez, the law professor at FIU, advised that anyone who is stopped, questioned or detained by an officer remain silent, not sign any papers, and contact an immigration attorney as soon as possible.
One student asked what would happen if someone on campus alerted FIU’s police department to the immigration status of another student.
“Will there be a culture of chivatos at this university?” the attendee asked, using the Spanish word for snitch.
Casas said that any such accusations would still require further investigation, but that such information could potentially initiate probable cause. This created tension during the meeting which Casas tried to calm.
“No,” he said. “We don’t have a culture of snitches.”
The exchange illustrated the widening gap between what FIU’s police sees as standard policing and what students fear is the beginning of an atmosphere of surveillance and suspicion. Despite Casas’ repeated insistence that officers would not ask about immigration status without probable cause or engage in racial profiling, some professors said their students had already stopped attending class due to fear of detention. Gomez, a senior at FIU who studies sociology and works at the ACLU, says that he knows students who have decided not to continue their education at the school because of the agreement.
Panelist Greer pushed back on the idea that racial profiling could be entirely avoided under the proposed agreement. She pointed to the troubled track record of similar programs nationwide, where efforts to deputize local police in immigration enforcement have repeatedly led to racial profiling, breakdowns in communication with federal agencies and costly lawsuits against local departments.
“I commend you for your commitment to not racially profile,” Greer said, addressing Casas. “But when you have an agreement that has such historical baggage of opening opportunities for racial profiling to happen, for distrust and clearly putting people into harm’s way, the community does not have a way back.”
FIU’s student body is largely Hispanic — about 68 percent, according to the U.S. News and World Report — and many are permanent residents or are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides temporary protection from deportation for some immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
Casas told forum attendees that students won’t be required to carry immigration documents, but added: “If, by all means, you think that will help you dispel any suspicion that should arise, I’m not gonna tell you not to do that.”
When asked on Wednesday whether he was under pressure from the governor to enter the agreement, Casas said “no.”
The forum unfolded against a backdrop of rising campus anxiety over immigration enforcement. In recent weeks, 18 FIU international students had their F-1 visas revoked, prompting protests and an emergency faculty meeting last month. At the time, interim President Jeanette Nuñez — who served as DeSantis’ lieutenant governor until February — defended the revocations, saying that it was the university’s responsibility to remove students who had engaged in criminal activity. It remains unclear whether those students, who have since had their visas reinstated and have been reenrolled, had violated any laws.
Nuñez, who is slated to take over the presidency permanently, also backed FIU’s agreement with ICE, stating at last month’s emergency meeting that Casas told her he signed on to the program because he felt that campus police were better positioned than outside agencies to handle cases involving suspected undocumented students due to their community ties.
One professor challenged that reasoning, which Casas repeated during the panel on Wednesday, telling the police chief that for students with fragile immigration statuses, being detained by university police would feel like a betrayal.
“I understand that,” Casas responded. “I think that’s my burden to bear.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 4:34 PM.
