UNC Chapel Hill Student Newspaper: ICE Is ‘Biggest’ Public Safety Threat During Chinese Virus Pandemic

The editorial board of the student newspaper for the UNC Chapel Hill claimed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the “biggest” threat to public safety, even during the Chinese virus pandemic.

Not only did the student newspaper bizarrely claim that ICE is a threat to public safety in general, but it went as far as to suggest that the law enforcement agency is a greater threat to the public than the Wuhan coronavirus.

The Chinese virus has killed a total of 27,850 Americans thus far, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University at the time of publishing.

The students on the editorial board for UNC Chapel Hill’s student newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel, scrutinized ICE for requesting 45,000 N95 surgical masks to protect themselves from the Chinese virus while they continue enforcing U.S. law — insisting that if ICE agents were to have their desired masks, it would mean that doctors will face a shortage.

“We would argue that the biggest present threat to public safety would be ICE agents, not undocumented immigrants,” added the editorial board in their piece.

The students also cited ICE’s statement that it seeks to “continue daily enforcement operations to make criminal and civil arrests, prioritizing individuals who threaten our national security and public safety,” implying that such a goal is problematic.

“Cramming people into detention centers presents an obvious health concern,” wrote the editorial board. “One person has already tested positive for COVID-19 in an ICE detention facility.”

After calling out ICE for wanting its agents protected from the coronavirus, the student newspaper then goes on to accuse the agency of risking the possibility of spreading the Wuhan virus if their agents were to become infected with the disease.

“These agents are vectors who could spread coronavirus, which raises a public health threat that should concern us all,” insists the student newspaper.

The students concluded by demanding that ICE “immediately cease all surveillance and policing activity,” in order to better practice “social distancing and quarantine measures” in response to the Chinese virus.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.