Tufts asks students to call campus police if they see ICE agents near university grounds

Tufts University is urging students to call the school's police department if they see federal immigration agents on or near campus.

In an email to students Tuesday, Tufts' police chief said she was aware of reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity near the school's grounds.

Yolanda Smith, who is also the school's associate vice president of public safety, said her department is "alert and engaged across all campuses" and wants to hear about any activity that may be "disrupting."

The email also contained common campus safety tips, including not allowing anyone without a Tufts ID into a locked building, carrying a Tufts ID at all times, being vigilant about surroundings and contacting school police "if something feels concerning."

Smith wrote, "Tufts is committed to maintaining a safe, supportive environment where teaching, learning, and research can thrive."

The missive comes during a period of heightened tension across the country after federal agents shot and killed two Minneapolis protesters amid a broad immigration crackdown.

The Tufts community has first-hand experience with the Trump administration's street-level tactics around deportations.

Last March, a swarm of plainclothes federal agents surrounded and took doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk into an unmarked vehicle. She was taken across the New Hampshire and Vermont borders by car before being placed on an airplane and spirited away to a detention center in Louisiana.

It was months before her attorneys could secure her release in the courts.