Northeastern University's campus in Boston. (Facebook.com/Northeastern University)
BOSTON (AP) -- Northeastern University students and community activists are demanding the school cancel a multimillion-dollar research contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Federal spending data show that Northeastern has received $2.7 million from ICE over the last two years. Northeastern says the grant isn't funding research that has anything to do with immigration enforcement. But opponents insist having any kind of contract with ICE is "irresponsible and immoral," and they plan to stage a campus protest Wednesday afternoon to press their case.
Amid the national uproar over immigrant arrests and detentions, nearly 2,000 students, faculty and alumni have signed an open letter demanding the contract be spiked immediately. Johns Hopkins University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Vermont's state colleges also got ICE grants this year.
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