Students to receive if ICE is on campus
By Melanie Arias, March 3, 2026
A new Cal Poly Pomona alert system will email students, faculty and staff when immigration enforcement officers set foot on campus.
The email alert, which includes the date and time of sighting, location of activity and a link to campus and community resources, will come from SB98notify@cpp.edu. It will be sent after CPP’s campus designee Chief of Staff and Associate Vice President of Administrative Services Jason Rodriguez or University Police verifies the presence of immigration enforcement presence.
“The verification could be a picture taken of a car, and our police would be able to verify (immigration) fairly quickly,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Christina Gonzales.
CPP is implementing this campus alert system in accordance with Senate Bill 98, which requires universities across California to notify CPP’s campus community when immigration activity is confirmed on campus. SB 98 also provides academic and financial support to students and faculty impacted by immigration activities.
California Universities are required by law to ensure undocumented students receive access to financial aid, exemption from non-resident tuition and retain eligibility for housing, reenrollment and research, according to CPP’s website.
Despite these protections for undocumented students, CSUs are public universities, meaning most places on campuses are not private and cannot prevent immigration enforcement from coming onto campus, according to California University Office of the Chancellor.
Gonzales added immigration officers should only go into classrooms if they have a warrant.
“If they had a warrant or a subpoena, they would probably tell us ahead of time,” Gonzales said. “We could want to work with them to have the least disruption.”
Compliance visits, routine and administrative activities from immigration officers won’t include ICE officers, so an alert will not be sent out in those cases, according to CPP’s website. However, scheduled and completed compliance visits will be posted on CPP’s website.
If students aren’t on campus when an alert goes out, Gonzales advised students not to come to campus until another alert goes out.
“Faculty will receive the same alert, so they may decide to cancel their class or hold it virtually,” Gonzales said.
To support students who are detained or deported, CPP will work with the student to save their GPA for academic records or provide a refund and include no penalties, according to Gonzales.
“Our whole thing is, how do we support the students,” Gonzales said. “We will work with the student and try to find the right path that will help them.”
This new alert system comes two months after CPP’s Career Center was set to host federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. With faculty, staff and students expressing concern for possible ICE activities on campus, CPP postponed the career fair for fall 2025.
ASI reminded CPP to follow Senate Bill 98 back in October and advocated for the alert system.
CPP biology student Claudia Tymkowicz said she was relieved CPP is taking proper measures to alert people.
“I have seen the signs posted,” Tymkowicz said. “I don’t know what else they could do at this point.”
Similarly, CPP civil engineering student Nicholas Lopez described the alert system as a helpful resource to students.
“Especially because a lot of Hispanic people come here,” Lopez said. “I feel like the school should be education first, instead of students having to worry about their citizen status.”
If students see immigration officers on campus, they should contact Rodriguez at (909) 869-3019.
If students aren’t on campus when an alert goes out, Gonzales advised students not to come to campus if they have concerns for themselves until another alert goes out.
“Faculty will receive the same alert, so they may decide to cancel their class or hold it virtually,” Gonzales said. “We are hoping they (ICE) follow the protocol. There’s really nothing we could do about that.”
Rodriguez should only be contacted when there’s immigration enforcement sightings rather than for SB 98 questions. If Rodriguez is unavailable, contact studentaffairs@cpp.edu.
Feature image courtesy of Noemi Orozco
