Representatives from numerous law enforcement agencies and organizations provided information to students at the annual criminal justice job fair on April 10, 2025. PHOTO | Sky Johnson
Mercer held a Criminal Justice Career Fair on the West Windsor campus on April 10 with representatives from multiple branches of law enforcement attending. They included the West Windsor Police Department, the New Jersey Department of Corrections, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
At the event, Criminal Justice Professor and Program Coordinator Cavitt Cooley said the tradition of the fair is one he has been part of for 20 years.
He said, “I know the reason that they’re here. It’s careers. It’s jobs. They’re here for the students.”
However, some students and faculty members were concerned with the presence of ICE agents on campus
Dr. Edward Avery-Natale, Associate Professor of Sociology, said, “The school administration could have done a much better job of communicating, especially with the student body, that [ICE] would be here and explaining what they were and were not doing. I think with such a problematic group, it would have been beneficial for the administration to send a notification to everyone.”
What sets this year’s event apart from the others is the shift in the relationship immigration enforcement has had on college campuses in recent months, with as many as 1,400 students having visas revoked and some being taken into custody by ICE officials, including 12 at nearby Rutgers University.
A third-year Graphic Design major at Mercer who asked to remain anonymous told The VOICE, “I immigrated when I was 15 years old…and last year I became an American citizen…I’m always on the edge. Like, if someone approaches me, I need to be ready. I even have my passport and everything to bring with me now to make sure that if I was taken or abducted by ICE agents that I have something to prove that I’m an American citizen.”
Some professors let their students take an excused absence for the day.
The Graphic Design student took that option saying, “Knowing that they were at the school, I just said ‘hell no, I’m staying in the hell away.’”
One student who attended the job fair, when informed that some of their peers were staying home, said, “If people are scared of ICE, maybe we should call ICE on them.”
Professor Avery-Natale said, “It would have been my preference for ICE not to be here. I would’ve liked them to be as far away as possible.”
When asked about recent policy changes to the restrictions of ICE agents, Officer Colin Patterson, Community Relations Officer of Homeland Security, who was at the event said, “We’re doing the same job we do every year, you know, we might be doing it at a high level, but nothing has changed. We’re not going to schools, we’re not going to hospitals, we’re not going to churches to arrest anybody, you know?”
However, on Jan. 20, Donald Trump rescinded a policy that protected certain areas, such as churches, hospitals, funerals, weddings and schools, from immigration enforcement. These locations can now be targeted by ICE and Border Security officers.
Professor Cooley said, “I thought there might be some concerns, and I tried to diminish those as best I could by making the administration aware. I mean, everybody knew what was going on. We’re not hiding anything.”
