Provo • On campus Thursday at Brigham Young University, two recruiters for U.S. Border Patrol staffed a booth at a career fair. Off campus, scores of students took to the streets to protest the immigration agency’s presence at the event.
“There are many immigrants here,” student Annie Walker, one of the demonstration organizers, said. “BYU prides itself on being an international school, of having many languages spoken by the students and having an international reach. And to have CBP there, it really discourages immigrants from actually coming to this campus, and it promotes violence.”
Beryl Peña is among those international students. A Filipina who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, she says the immigration crackdown has become personal for her. She also worries about how CBP’s campus visit reflects on the school.
“It almost feels like [BYU officials] are laughing in our faces after everything that’s been going on,” Peña said. “They still feel that it’s appropriate to have forces like this on campus — for a church [and] for a school that preaches so much about keeping families together.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Beryl Peña leads chants alongside Annie Walker, at left, as people gather on the edge of the Brigham Young University campus to protest U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiting at the BYU career fair on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Protests are not allowed on BYU’s campus without written permission from the private school — owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — so these students assembled off campus.
Originating at the intersection of 900 North and Campus Lane, back-to-back protests swelled from a handful of participants to about 200 students and community members. Equipped with hand-drawn signs and inscribed personalized messages, the students and other demonstrators eventually migrated from the east edge of campus to the west side, near Cougar Boulevard and Canyon Road.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People gather on the edge of the Brigham Young University campus to protest U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiting at the BYU career fair on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
The protests, however, were not the only location teeming with students.
Inside BYU’s Wilkinson Center, students flocked to the ballroom for the chance to talk with recruiters from more than 70 potential employers — even as faculty, staff and students had signed a Google Form petition against the inclusion of U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the event.
‘Immigrants make America great’
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Evan Seal gathers with others on the edge of the Brigham Young University campus to protest U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiting at the BYU career fair on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
A BYU alumnus said he and his wife walked into the career fair wearing T-shirts with printed messages. His: “Immigrants make America great.” Hers: “I stand with immigrants.”
At first they received little notice, said Jordan, who asked that his full name not be used because his wife is a faculty member and fears retribution from school officials.
He said several students chatted with them about their shirts as they perused the booths. He said the couple stood near the CBP desk but never approached or engaged with the recruiters there.
After about 30 minutes, Jordan said, security personnel asked the couple to leave — along with another faculty member, whose shirt said “The kingdom of God has no borders.”
“The two people I was with were faculty, so they mentioned they were faculty and because of that, I think we got to stay a little longer as the security person looked for an administrator,” Jordan said. “Then some sort of administrator came in and told us that BYU is politically neutral, and so even though we’re just wearing shirts, we’d have to leave.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Katie Freestone, left, and Lauren McHenry join hundreds on the edge of the Brigham Young University campus to protest U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiting at the BYU career fair on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Jordan said the three were told if they didn’t go, they would be arrested for trespassing. So the trio left. Jordan and his wife then joined the off-campus protests.
“I’m glad we were there. I’m glad there was some voice at the fair to be able to stand with people who are feeling unsafe and uncomfortable today on campus,” Jordan said. “I’m disappointed that BYU considers our church politically neutral, while they consider CBP being there a politically neutral or OK thing, because it’s certainly not in this current climate.”
BYU has not supplied answers to multiple Salt Lake Tribune questions about CBP’s inclusion at the fair, the petition opposing it and any incidents at the event.
What the church has and hasn’t said
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People gather on the edge of the Brigham Young University campus to protest U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiting at the BYU career fair on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
The church has not spoken out directly about the controversial enforcement surges in Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles, but it previously reaffirmed its commitment to long-standing principles on immigration:
• Obedience to the law.
• Loving “all God’s children.”
• Providing “basic food and clothing, as our capacity allows, to those in need, regardless of their immigration status.”
• Keeping families together.
Christine Isom-Verhaaren, a former BYU professor, said she felt compelled as a “disciple of Christ” to attend the protest.
“It was bad enough [that CBP appeared at a Utah Valley University career fair the day before] but at BYU? It’s just really disturbing to me and has really made me feel so desolate, that my church is not taking a firmer stand against all of these horrors that are happening, to American citizens, but to every child of God,” Isom-Verhaaren said. “No one deserves to be treated the way people are being treated.”