2025 was the deadliest year in more than two decades for those in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Thirty-two people died last year while in ICE custody, and in the first month of 2026 alone, at least eight people have either been killed by federal agents or have died in ICE custody — Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Víctor Manuel Díaz, Parady La, Renee Nicole Good, Luis Beltrán Yáñez–Cruz, Heber Sánchez Domínguez and Alex Pretti.
Although there have been no verified ICE sightings on the Grinnell College campus, which has an 18 percent international student body, ICE has been targeting international students across the country. The detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and former student at Columbia University, and other students exercising their First Amendment right to protest has made this issue particularly relevant.
As students, we condemn the stripping of human rights and dignity from anyone — regardless of race or legal status — by ICE and by the U.S. government. As journalists, we at The S&B condemn the deterioration of the First Amendment. Students like Rümeysa Öztürk from Tufts University should be allowed to express their opinions in a student newspaper without fear of detainment or deportation. The threat of violence is a threat to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
The arrests of journalists like Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, photojournalists like John Abernathy and Avery Craig, and the deportation of Mario Guevara, a journalist covering immigration in the Atlanta area, have led several of our staff members to hesitate to cover news that could anger the federal government. Many students have reached out to us to ask about retracting political statements they made in previously published articles, afraid that their families and they themselves could be at risk of expulsion from the United States.
As a newsroom committed to transparency and accountability, we have long held a policy of never retracting a statement. The federal tyranny of the United States has forced us to rewrite our policy. The permanence of the record is fundamental to journalistic integrity. We believe, and still believe, that the historical record matters and that what was said and done should not be erased.
When the federal government targets students for expressing political views in campus newspapers, the context in which the sources gave consent has fundamentally changed. A student who spoke to The S&B about campus activism in 2023 could not have foreseen that similar speech would lead to detention and deportation proceedings in 2025. The rules have changed mid-game and retroactively. We’ve updated our ethics policy to reflect this and indicate that we may choose to remove identifying information in the rare circumstance in which there is a legitimate risk for the safety of a source. This would only be done upon the recommendation of an ethics committee, and any changes to an article after publication would be disclosed in an editor’s note.
If the federal government views student voices as threats worthy of ICE enforcement, that is a statement about the government — not about the students, not about the press and not about the importance of the work that we do. We will continue to report the truth. We will continue to hold power accountable. We will not be intimidated into silence. But we will also protect our sources, our community and the fundamental principle that journalism should not result in detention, deportation or death.
Signed,
Sarah Evans `26, Editor in Chief
Taylor Nunley `26, Editor in Chief
Asha Kulkarni `28, News Editor
Zoe Zappas `27, News Editor
Maya Holland `27, Community Editor
Akira Keene Teotrakool `28, Arts & Culture Editor
Henry Horn `26, Sports Editor
Evelyn Wilber `26, Opinions Editor
Henry Loomis `26, Visuals Editor
Avery Haden `29, Copy Editor
Haiyue Ye `29, Copy Editor
Faith Ferry `28, Staff Writer
Regann Fishell `27, Staff Writer
Elanor Kwak `29, Staff Writer
Andrew Ruger `26, Staff Writer
Sam Schmidt `26, Staff Writer
Zoe Stahl `29, Staff Writer
Alissa Booth `29, Staff Photographer
Violet Greenall Nettleton `29, Staff Photographer
Sumi Uetake Turner `29, Graphic Designer
This article has been updated to include additional signatories.
