President Santa Ono Fails to Protect University of Michigan International Grad Workers
A Press Release from the Graduate Employee Organization
APRIL 2025 — After days of silence from University of Michigan administration, U-M President Santa Ono sent a campus-wide email on April 9 to address the increasing number of visa revocations of U-M international students and grad workers. At the time of his email, 22 enrolled students and workers have had their visas revoked and SEVIS statuses terminated. President Ono’s email makes clear that the U-M Administration intends to take no substantive action in response to ICE abductions, detainments, and deportations, offering only online resources and FAQs webpages.
Graduate Employees’ Organization – AFT Local 3550 at the University of Michigan, a labor union representing over 2,000 Graduate Student Instructors and Staff Assistants at the University of Michigan, condemns President Ono’s response to ongoing deportations and demands that the U-M administration protect international students and workers by doing the following and more:
Issue legal challenges to the termination of student visas in federal court.
Provide legal aid to students facing visa revocations.
Continue refusal to share student and worker data with third-parties, absent judicial warrants or subpoenas, and appeal the validity of such legal instruments. Put in place clear policies that prohibit unwarranted disclosure of student and worker data.
Adopt an internal policy of non-cooperation with ICE and other law enforcement, and designate classroom, office, and department spaces “sanctuary spaces.”
Guarantee uninterrupted financial support, i.e., continued funding for students, until the end of their contract or course of study.
Guarantee academic continuity, i.e., the ability to continue with coursework and to complete one’s degree remotely.
Provide central funding to make up lost grants from potential federal cuts.
End the practices of DPSS surveillance (cameras in Diag and buildings, trespass bans).
In the face of employer inaction, grad workers have established a 24/7 emergency hotline to connect grad workers at U-M with material and legal resources ((734) 210-8625). Grad workers have also launched the Worker Solidarity Fund to provide emergency financial aid and organize a defense campaign to protect our international coworkers. Supporters of international workers have already donated over $11,000—show your support by donating here.
Now is the time to act by pooling our time and resources together to protect ourselves and our coworkers. U-M grad workers joined the Immigration Rights Mass Meeting on Monday, April 14th, to organize for immigration rights. GEO also coordinated an international worker solidarity rally on Thursday, April 17—pictured above.
