The Public Safety Office in Morrison Hall on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus. St. Paul campus Public Safety Manager Aaron Simon denied social media rumors that ICE had been spotted on campus. (Adam Mueller/The Crest) 
Signs were put up on campus buildings marking that they were private buildings. (Adam Mueller/The Crest)
Aaron Fimon, St. Paul campus Public Safety manager, denied a rumor Wednesday morning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took a student from the Anderson Student Center on the university’s St. Paul campus Monday.
Fimon clarified that ICE has not stepped foot on campus, despite a rumor that had been circling on students’ Instagram stories Monday night and Tuesday morning.
“We’ve actually had zero confirmed reports of ICE on campus,” Fimon said Wednesday morning.
The warning was published by first-year student Cade Kuznia at about 9 p.m. Monday on the student body’s collective Instagram story. In a message to The Crest, Kuznia wrote that he took down the post Tuesday and spoke to Public Safety.
After Public Safety investigated the report, further rumors spread on social media that they had received an intentional prank call about ICE being on campus.
“I heard about this yesterday where someone said (it was) a prank call. I don’t know where that information came from,” Fimon said. “We haven’t had anyone say, ‘For sure this is happening,’ and it turned out that they were trying to report it maliciously.”
Instead, Fimon said that Public Safety has investigated “five or six” reports that federal law enforcement has been seen on campus, and that it is a result of the community being “hypervigilant” when they see vehicles with tinted windows or people wearing face coverings.
He added that when they investigate, it has always been someone who belongs on campus.
The original Instagram post urged the student body to carry whistles and add Public Safety as an emergency contact in their phones.
“ICE is an imminent risk to all of us, and UST is no longer a safe campus,” Kuznia wrote in the original post.
The ASC is considered a public space, but dorms and classroom buildings are private with signs like the one above clearly marking the entrances, according to Fimon. That means federal law enforcement needs a specific warrant to enter.
Fimon said if someone has any concern, that their first move should be to call Public Safety, which is available 24/7.
“We’re always open, we’re always here,” Fimon said.
Abby Madsen contributed to this report.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.
