Following last week’s debunked rumor that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were spotted in downtown Brunswick, the Office of Safety and Security issued a statement Wednesday advising College members on interacting with ICE agents and other law enforcement personnel.

Associate Vice President of Safety and Security Randy Nichols emailed members of the College to debunk the claims that swept campus, reportedly sparked by a local activist group’s social media post about ICE activity on Pleasant Street. He wrote that students and staff should call Security if approached by any law enforcement official and cautioned against resisting law enforcement.

“Unless they are responding to an emergency, law enforcement officers cannot enter residence halls, administrative offices, laboratories or classrooms, or other areas with locked doors or that require key card access without a warrant,” he wrote.

The scare comes amid an uptick of ICE raids and arrests across the country since President Donald Trump took office in January. Trump’s administration is aggressively pursuing mass-deportation policy through executive orders and has instructed ICE officials to increase their number of daily arrests, per the Washington Post. Additionally, a January directive from the Department of Homeland Security rescinded Biden-era guidelines protecting schools from immigration law enforcement activity.

Nichols stressed in the email that his message is purely precautionary.

“We are sharing this information as a precaution,” he wrote. “We have no knowledge of any impending action by law enforcement officials.”

Other administrative bodies on campus, including the Office of Residential Life (ResLife), have internally addressed the situation. In an email to the Orient, Associate Director of ResLife SJ Tinker said she advised ResLife staff to direct any requests for information from law enforcement to Security. She also noted that students’ privacy is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“We asked proctors and RAs to remind their residents of both of these things,” she wrote.