There has been recent national controversy surrounding the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s heightened efforts to carry out its stated mission of protecting “America through criminal investigations and enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety.” Organizations in Clemson and across the Upstate are reacting to the nationwide impacts of increased law enforcement presence.

Specifically, the Indivisible Clemson Area student group hosted a vigil on Monday in honor of “those harmed by ICE,” according to a social media post.

ICE vigil

Allison Curl, a senior biosystems engineering major and organizer for the Indivisible Clemson Area student group, organized the vigil and its speakers, working with members and organizers of Indivisible Clemson Area.

At the vigil on Monday, Ridgely Jackson, a senior horticulture major, read the poem “For Alex Pretti,” written by Joseph Fasano.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American intensive care nurse for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was shot and killed on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis during protests. According to ABC News, 10 shots were fired in less than five seconds.

“Tell the story: / a breath has left; / a country is dying; / and a man laid his face / on its pavement today / as though he were listening / to a patient’s heart,” Jackson read.

One of the student speakers at the event spoke about the recent actions of the ICE and law enforcement.

“Beyond those that have been killed at the hands of ICE, border patrol and other federal law enforcement, there are tens of thousands of individuals currently held in detention facilities around the country,” the student said. “I do not have to lecture on the utter brutality which has been thrust upon the most vulnerable among us.”

The student also addressed the controversy surrounding the Department of Homeland Security briefings following the deaths of Pretti and Renée Good. “They told us not to believe our eyes … In recent weeks, the lying has become so bold-faced that every news outlet may reach the same conclusion, and still, we are not to trust our eyes or ears.”

Tolli Rosol, a junior wildlife and fish biology major, performed an original song with the lyrics, “Be good, be good, just let us storm your schools and kidnap your children.”

“Put your head down, don’t look. Abandon your neighbors, turn your back on the world, put your hands up in the air, don’t you dare move, don’t you dare make a sound, and we’ll let you live for now,” a verse sang.

Rev. Holly Brown of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson spoke at the vigil.

“There is such hatred and violence that require us to speak back with love, to show up in forms of resistance, to recognize the worthiness and dignity of every single person, that no person, whether they are an immigrant or not, no person should be considered illegal,” Brown said to the crowd.

Brown also spoke about the importance of getting to know neighbors of different backgrounds, and to “recognize the holiness, the worthiness and the beauty” of every person.

Brown ended with a call to action.

“Have us prepare our resistance for the long haul,” she said. “Keep the strings of protest songs alive in our hearts for the upcoming weeks, months, years. We will sing together until our songs … our history, and our children know themselves to be safe and holy.”

Greenville rapid response line

Brandy Hancock, an organizer for 50501 South Carolina and Indivisible Upstate SC, also runs the GVL Rapid Response Hotline. The response line focuses on training volunteers to spot and respond to reports of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.

The initiative has an administrative team of five to six and over 200 volunteers since starting roughly five months ago.

The volunteer training is primarily focused on “verifier” volunteers, who check for ICE sightings in the Upstate.

Verifiers attend a 1.5-hour training session, and can attend as many as they want. They follow the same training model that has seen success in the North Carolina groups.

The training’s mission is to “help our targeted neighbors feel safe and supported.”

According to Hancock, the main mission is to hold law enforcement accountable.

“Everyone in this country, regardless of their paperwork status, has rights, and you know, regardless of what the current administration thinks, you have rights … whatever the case,” he said.

Half of the verifier training focuses on “knowing your rights” and on what members of the community are constitutionally owed by law enforcement.

ICE verifier training schedules are available on the initiative’s website.

Indivisible in the Upstate

Indivisible Clemson and Indivisible Upstate SC are part of the larger Indivisible organization, a grassroots “nationwide movement of everyday people” seeking to stop the “rise of authoritarianism in the United States” in the pursuit of democracy.

Erin Goss, faculty advisor to the Indivisible Clemson Area student group, is a co-organizer of the Clemson group and became involved in January 2025.

Goss wants to continue fostering a connection between the community and the student group in hopes of working together toward a common goal: democracy.

The organization regularly organizes advocacy events, including protests on the bridge over U.S. 123 and the No Kings protest in April 2025.

She said the group’s mission is to put political pressure on leaders and “let like-minded people in South Carolina know they’re not alone.”

Goss also mentioned that the organization is composed of retired military personnel, Clemson faculty, students and residents.

“A large part of my experience has been realizing just how many people there are around these parts who have been looking for opportunities to speak and be seen and who, although they were alone,” Goss told The Tiger in an interview.

She also spoke about the importance of students knowing they’re not alone in their political views.

“We just get so much more love and support than we do the opposite.”

Members of the organization also sought to stress its nonpartisan nature. Goss recalled that there are registered Republicans in the group — some saying that they’ve been lifelong Republicans — but they can’t support certain things that are being represented by the party, things they’ve cared about their whole lives.

“We sort of try to really focus on just what it means to stand up for community, and to stand up for a vision of community.”