An ICE Out rally on campus at Tommy Trojan had a minimal turnout with no more than 10 people arriving to the Thursday night rally, which was set to begin at 7 p.m.
A flyer for a rally against federal immigration enforcement action had circulated sparsely on social media in recent days. But no person or group ever claimed direction over the event, and no one calling themselves an organizer showed up Thursday.
Kenleonard Oparaji, a junior studying PR and director of communications for Trojan Democrats, was one of the few attendees. He said he believes the confusion surrounding the rally stemmed from its unclear planning.
“We have no idea who organized this event,” Oparaji said. “That might be one of the reasons why we’re seeing [this] type of turnout.”
Oparaji heard about the event through a post on Sidechat, a student-exclusive anonymous social media platform. The comment displayed a picture of a poster, one of many seen stuck around the University Park campus and USC Village this week.
On a Sidechat post from about a week ago, one student wrote about the rally saying, “Whoever is organizing THANK YOU. [I] was getting fed up with the silence around here. We are all showing up, right guys?”
Despite its lack of ownership, the post was ‘upvoted’ by at least 1,300 students.
About six hours before the rally was scheduled to start, one student commented on the post asking if the rally was still happening.
The question netted no concrete response.
There seemed to be no clear organizer for the event and it was unclear who designed the flyers. No one in attendance appeared to know whom it was organized by.
One of the few who arrived for the rally was Chelsea Gonzalez, an undergraduate student studying law, history and culture at USC.
Unlike Oparaji, she believes the lack of participation in the protest stemmed from a fear of the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) presence on campus.
“It didn’t really help that [DPS] was here immediately,” she said of a DPS car that was parked by Tommy Trojan when she arrived. “I know that having security here might have made some students feel uncomfortable being here in the first place.”
Annenberg Media spoke with two officers stationed by the car. When asked if they were there for a protest, one responded, “What protest?”
He informed his partner, and said he was going to call his supervisor. Upon being informed of the alleged event, his partner said, “Then where is everyone?”
No chants nor signs were seen or heard around Tommy Trojan at the slated start time. That same silence continued for at least the following hour.
The attempted rally was held just one day after a nearby ICE Out protest at USC Village on Wednesday. Held outside of Target, it was organized by an external organization and part of a larger nationwide boycott of the Target Corporation, according to the Associated Press.