{
"type": "rich",
"version": "1.0",
"provider_name": "Action Network",
"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
"html": "",
"author_name": "YDSA Georgia Tech",
"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/groups/georgia-tech-ydsa",
"title": "Georgia Tech Drop ICE Petition",
"thumbnail_url": "https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/groups/default_facebook_images/000/142/690/original/RoseBeeLogo.png?1672362493",
"description": "We, the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology, call for our university to immediately divest from any and all companies that are known to be working with/supporting the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We also call for Georgia Tech, along with the Georgia Tech Police Department, to release a public statement stating that they will not work with ICE beyond what is absolutely legally necessary, and that they are placing the safety of we, the students and faculty, as their first priority. Across the nation, students with the full legal right to remain and study in the US are being deported. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is invading university campuses and private residences to illegally detain and deport students. Elmina Aghayeva, a student at Columbia University, was arrested in her residence by ICE agents operating under the false pretense of searching for a “missing person”. Fortunately, she was released after New York mayor Zohran Mamdani pressured President Donald Trump to make sure she was let go in a recent meeting. Unfortunately, we are not spared from ICE terror as they have continuously grown in presence throughout our state of Georgia, and closer yet to Atlanta and Georgia Tech, as they have been seen in and around the city in the past weeks. ICE has set up a new satellite office in College Park and is also constructing a new detention facility in Social Circle, just outside east Atlanta. Our college campuses have not been spared either, with reports of ICE presence at Georgia State University’s campus this year as well. Is our safety really the top priority? Georgia Tech prides itself on prioritizing the safety of us, the students and faculty. GT even says on their website, “The safety of students and the entire campus community is a huge priority at Georgia Tech. The Institute strives to provide a safe, healthy, and secure environment for anyone learning, working, or visiting the Georgia Tech campus.” However, as the uncertain and continuously rising tension surrounding ICE approaches closer to home here in Atlanta, we, the students and faculty of Georgia Tech, have yet to hear any reassurance that our safety is still the University’s top priority. Not to mention the threat ICE poses to the large number of international students who are here at Georgia Tech, and the added uncertainty faced by this large section of our student body during these times. Georgia Tech has been indirectly supporting ICE. Georgia Tech prides itself on its connections to many successful companies, even boasting about its top 12 employers of students in a recent Instagram post, many of which are known to be collaborating with ICE to further their overreach and agenda of rounding up those who pose a “threat” to the current administration. Below is a list of the major contributors to the Georgia Tech “Deportation Industrial Complex”: Home Depot - This company has continuously allowed its parking lots to become a frequent site for ICE to conduct “Targeted Enforcement Operations” as Home Depot parking lots are well-known gathering spots for migrant day laborers. They are a key stakeholder in Georgia Tech’s ecosystem, with things like their OrangeWorks Innovation Lab in Tech Square, sponsoring GT’s Advanced Technology Development Center, and every summer, Home Depot interns are housed in GT residence halls and provided meal plans as a part of their Intern Lodging Program with GT. Due to the deep ties, Georgia Tech can put a massive amount of pressure on Home Depot to take action against ICE. Amazon Web Services - AWS provides cloud infrastructure to store ICE’s mission data and person-tracking databases, along with providing infrastructure for Palantir’s Investigative Case Management system, which pulls together disparate records of citizens to build profiles on them. AWS is used by Georgia Tech for many services, is a key academic site for its experimental AI initiatives, and has a strong career pipeline for Tech students. Georgia Tech can definitely put pressure on them if they can’t fully divest from their services. Enterprise Car Rentals - Enterprise is THE provider of rental cars to ICE agents to use in all of their operations. Georgia Tech has a contract with Enterprise that it can easily switch to another rental car dealer that does not provide support to ICE Hilton - The Hilton family of hotels is the central provider of housing to ICE agents. Georgia Tech has multiple connections to Hilton hotels and supports a Hampton Inn (owned by Hilton) directly across the Bobby Dodd Stadium entrance on North Avenue. GT can easily switch to supporting another hotel brand like Holiday Inn. Flock Safety - Founded by 3 GT alumni, Flock Safety cameras and microphones are located all around campus to supposedly increase security and more efficiently flag wrongdoers by listening to conversations, scanning license plates, and even deploying drones to locations in under 90 seconds, but this is obviously a gross overreach of surveillance that feeds into databases accessible to ICE. There is already an organization called “Flock Off GT” who work more extensively on this particular issue. If you would like to find out more, visit their resources. Charter Flight Companies - Eastern Airlines, GlobalX, and Omni Air International provide most flights for ICE agents and their deportation runs. Georgia Tech has frequently used these companies to charter long-distance flights for its athletic teams, which they can instead charter with other companies not affiliated with ICE. Target - Based in Minneapolis, Target has been known to allow ICE to operate in and around its stores and parking lots, even helping ICE detain 2 employees in Minnesota. Target is a frequent career center and event sponsor at Tech, and they have collaborated with GT on retail subjects. Palantir - This company likely needs little introduction, as it is the corporate backbone of ICE’s surveillance, deportation, and access to databases to create a dossier on potential illegal immigrants using AI. There is a high-intensity recruitment pipeline from Georgia Tech to Palantir that the university can put pressure on. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft - These tech giants have repeatedly sidestepped public scrutiny to quietly work with ICE through the tactic of using third parties or acting as subcontractors to sell their technology, helping them secure dozens of cloud contracts with ICE. Georgia Tech obviously has many relationships and career pipelines with these giants that it can use to put public pressure on them. There are more companies part of this “Deportation Industrial Complex,” but we believe that these listed above are the ones that Georgia Tech can have the most impact on using its leverage as a powerful and influential university, as well as its connections to these companies. Georgia Tech must only cooperate with ICE as much as is absolutely necessary. It is understood that ICE is a government agency, and if they provide a legal judicial warrant, meaning it is specifically signed by a judge, local law enforcement must work with them in accordance with the law. However, there is no reason for Georgia Tech or the GTPD to do any more than is absolutely legally required of them if ICE comes knocking. That includes Georgia Tech, to no longer continue to support the above companies that support ICE’s terror. Our Demands We, the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology, call for IMMEDIATE end of any and all partnerships between Georgia Tech and companies that support in any way the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and/or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Therefore, to protect our student and faculty community and beyond from the threat of ICE, we believe that Georgia Tech must meet these demands: Georgia Tech will divest from any and all companies that in any way work with or support the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The companies Georgia Tech is to divest from are listed, but not limited to, as: Home Depot, Amazon Web Services, Enterprise Car Rentals, the Hilton family of hotels, Flock Safety, Target, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and the charter flight companies of Eastern Airlines, GlobalX, and Omni Air International. Georgia Tech will, to the best of its ability, take its business to other companies that do not work with or support ICE in any way. Georgia Tech will release a public statement that states it will continue to divest from companies working with or supporting ICE until they no longer work with or support ICE in any way. Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Police Department will release a public statement stating that the safety of the students and faculty is the university’s top priority in the continuously growing, concerning, and uncertain political environment caused by ICE, and that they will do everything in their power to ensure the students and faculty are kept safe. The statement shall also state that Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Police Department condemn ICE, their tactics, and policies, and that they will only work with ICE to the degree that is absolutely legally necessary, and nothing more, in the event they are presented with a judge-signed warrant.",
"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/georgia-tech-drop-ice-petition"
}