The University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday cancelled a planned event on immigration after hundreds of students protested an appearance from the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The school shut down an event on campus Wednesday at Perry World House called "Detention and Deportation from Obama to Trump,” which was described as a “frank conversation” between ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan and two others “on recent policy changes, and what's next for detention and deportation in the United States.”
Over 400 students signed a petition to the school protesting Homan’s appearance over the agency’s policies before the event took place.
"Under Homan, ICE continued to be a violent organization responsible for terrorizing immigrant communities, for the separation of immigrant families, and for the persistent violation of the human rights of immigrants and their loved ones," reads the petition, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. "Consequently, inviting Homan as a guest speaker contradicts Penn’s claim of being a sanctuary campus that is committed to ensuring the well-being and safety of all of its students."
The event began on Wednesday as planned, but was quickly abandoned after protests started before the panelists spoke.
"And, they should have [done] the research on me. I won't be bullied," Homan said of the protestors on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. "Tom Homan spent his career enforcing the laws of this country. I did it for 34 years under six presidents. Nothing changed."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.