Crowdsourcing information can be an effective means of keeping tabs on MSU’s sprawling campus and allows information to reach students quickly, observers say. At the same time, the hyper-vigilant culture it encourages is prone to error, and some maintain that inaccurate rumors have already caused undue anxiety this semester.

Indeed, group chat messages reviewed by The State News show the convoluted and contradictory nature of the tracking network's communication as false rumors of ICE presence on campus circulated earlier this semester.

Still, some students say they feel a responsibility to do their part in keeping fellow students from being detained, as the policies that kept immigration enforcement agencies off college campuses under previous administrations have disappeared, and a climate of fear pervades.

During public comments at last month's board meeting, several students described immigration enforcement as a specter looming over campus — "Me and my friends are scared to go across campus," comparative culture and politics junior Marceline Jones said during the meeting.

Such fears, some students say, should compel MSU to take an active role in dispelling rumors that ICE is on campus, with some proposing a campus-wide alert should ICE ever arrive. Others would rather pass on the university's assistance altogether.

"I don’t think we could, like, really trust MSU’s administration right now, especially right now, because they’re not really listening to their students or anything," psychology sophomore Sarai Calderon said.

MSU spokesperson Amber McCann wrote in an email to The State News that the university "understands the anxiety caused by reports of ICE in the region" and has worked to address concerns through its resources website.

"Should a member of our campus community encounter officials on campus, they should immediately contact MSU's Department of Police and Public Safety (DPPS) to report the matter," McCann wrote, referencing the university's campus police department. "Having a police officer from DPPS present can be helpful in facilitating communication."

"Do we have more info on it?"

On Oct. 9, unverified posts about possible immigration enforcement actions on and near MSU's campus proliferated among group chats and online forums. MSU confirmed to The State News at the time that it had no knowledge of any immigration enforcement activity on campus. A local television station reported that federal agents conducted an operation in nearby Meridian Township.

Contemporaneous messages from the MSU College Democrats' group chat, which were reviewed by The State News, shed light on the confusion that can occur in the decentralized, informal online network that aims to track ICE activity.

In one message, a student flatly asserted that ICE "made an arrest at Erickson Hall at 7 p.m."

Former chapter president and then-candidate for East Lansing City Council Liam Richichi responded "We we have more info on it?"

He continued, "I'd love to get some local outlets to pick up on this and get this person released."

Another student chimed in to dispute the initial claim alleging an arrest on campus: "ICE is not on campus. ICE IS in Lansing though, but not ON Campus."

The rumor eventually found its way to Culturas de Las Raza Unidas, the largest Hispanic and Latino student group on campus.

After hearing that ICE could be on campus, the group contacted MSU to confirm the veracity of the rumor, said club president Rafael Gordillo Serrano. 

Just before 10 p.m. that night, Gordillo Serrano messaged a group chat with more than 800 members called MSU Latinxs with what he'd heard back from MSU: "Gotten word from the chief of police and MSU admin that the spottings today were not ICE or any immigration officers," Gordillo Serrano wrote, according to the messages. McCann, the spokesperson, said campus police told Gordillo Serrano they "had no information about ICE being on campus.”

Gordillo Serrano's message didn't immediately quell concerns.

Jones, the student who spoke at the board meeting about students' fears around immigration enforcement, said screenshots of the initial report and other rumors swirled online and in group chats for about 20 minutes longer.

"A lot of my friends were texting me, and I was texting my friends … just, like, please be safe; if you’re not home, get home," Jones said.

"Spread the rumor"

Though Gordillo Serrano was relieved immigration agents were, in fact, not on MSU’s campus — nor had they been on campus since the beginning of the administration — "the damage of misinformation" had already been done: Any rumor of ICE agents on campus exacerbates fear in the Latino community, he said.

Rather than spread rumors without verifying their veracity, Gordillo Serrano said his club wants people to "take these reports to us first as it can lessen fear."

Calderon, the psychology sophomore, said that after hearing the rumor ICE was on campus, they posted about the news on their Instagram story and alerted several friends. They didn't intend to spread a false rumor, but rather wanted to make sure students had all the information they might need in the event the rumor proved to be true.

"I’m not trying to spread the rumor of it. I don’t think it’s like spreading the rumor," Calderon said. "I just want to make sure that people are aware of it, and that they should be making sure that they have to be careful with where they go on campus — just in case."

Calderon was further concerned about MSU being, in essence, the ultimate arbiter of whether federal agents are on campus. Calderon said they are distrustful of campus police, particularly after one officer filed disciplinary charges — which were ultimately dropped — against a student activist earlier this semester. (The charges were still pending at the time of the interview.)

"I don't know if I should trust the police in general," Calderon said. 

Jones argued that MSU should take a more active stance in informing students about whether ICE is on campus, and dispelling rumors if they are causing distress among students. The university has previously said that it wouldn’t send out a campus alert if immigration agents were on campus.

"It's hard for me to see why the administration wouldn't do that, because I feel like they provided support for students in the past," Jones said. "I don't get why they couldn't do this either."

Editors at The Loyola Phoenix, the student newspaper at Loyola University in Chicago — the site of some of the Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration enforcement efforts — had observed a similar predicament on their campus earlier this semester.

Students were fearful of ICE conducting raids on Loyola’s campus, which is intertwined with the surrounding neighborhood, and, in the absence of university communications, were relying on social media posts and websites to keep tabs on agents’ locations. The result was a proliferation of unconfirmed rumors that caused students distress, Phoenix editor-in-chief Lilli Malone said.

In October, the Phoenix launched its own "ICE Tracker" to document confirmed ICE sightings. Malone explained that people submitting a tip must provide a date, time, location and photos of immigration officials for the report to become public.

Phoenix editors will also follow up with whoever submitted the tip to collect additional relevant information. Malone said that on a recent day, it took roughly an hour and a half for a tip to appear on the public site.