More than 91,000 immigrant and international students attend public colleges in Illinois. Many of them are afraid to come to campus. A new state law was supposed to change that — but most schools are ignoring it.

In December 2025, Illinois passed HB1312, a first-of-its-kind law requiring every public college to have a clear plan for what happens if federal immigration agents show up on campus. Schools must designate a point of contact students can call, keep records of any interactions with agents, and notify students and staff if agents are looking for them. The law went into effect January 1, 2026.

Four months later, a Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ investigation found that most schools still aren't following it.

Of the 24 public colleges surveyed, only four — the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois State University, and Elgin Community College — met all of the law's requirements. The City Colleges of Chicago, which serves 70,000 students across seven campuses, failed to meet three of the four. So did Oakton Community College, Harper Community College, and Western Illinois University.

For students like Zaure Bakytbekova, a freshman at Harold Washington College in Chicago, that failure is personal. Bakytbekova, who studies in the U.S. on a student visa, said she had to seek out information on her own because her school wasn't sharing it. "They would give out some information, but only if I was the one who was approaching and researching about this information," she said. "But I know many students are not aware that these resources are available."

Jennifer Juárez, higher education director at the Latino Policy Forum, called the investigation's findings "pretty alarming." "This is the safety of our students," she said. "And I know our students were very vocal about not feeling safe going to campus or not feeling that their institution had the right protocols."

A law only works if institutions follow it. We are calling on the presidents and chancellors of every non-compliant Illinois public college — and the Illinois Board of Higher Education — to immediately publish their campus immigration enforcement protocols, designate a clear point of contact for students and staff, and communicate these protections directly to their communities. Not buried on a website. Not just on paper. In students' hands, in multiple languages, before the July 1 state deadline.

Immigrant students deserve to focus on their education — not on whether it's safe to walk to class. Illinois made a promise to protect them. It's time for every public college in the state to keep it.