Waseem Abu-laila speaking during the “Solidarity Across Borders” Vigil in Butler Reception room at Saint Xavier University on Mar. 23, 2026
The Xavierite
On Mar. 23, SXU Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Unidos hosted a combined event called “Solidarity Across Borders” to honor victims of ICE (the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and IOF/IDF (the Israeli Occupational Forces/Israeli Defense Forces) brutality.
The vigil was held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Butler Reception Room in the Warde Academic Center. The vigil began with a ceremony featuring flowers and candles, which ended with a moment of silence for the victims, followed by various speeches given by members of both organizations.
The event was initially supposed to be held in the Schmitt Quadrangle outside, but the location was changed due to weather conditions according to Arlene Silva, president of Unidos.
President of SXU’s SJP Dalia Ihmud explained shortly after the event concluded: “We honestly started setting the event up thinking we were going to do a demonstration. We wanted to rally, we wanted to march, and scream, and shout, but the publicity of that can put people at unease and discomfort, and that is rightfully so–the same thing for Palestinian communities, who hesitate more and more as the genocide goes on longer and longer, and as ICE raids continue to pick up, that nobody feels comfortable in front of a camera, but we still all feel the pain. We still all feel the struggle, so coming up with a vigil was something that was more achievable and comfortable.”
”Behind every community of color facing injustice is a group of people funding the brutality, so let’s just hope for peace in the future,” Ihmud later said.
SJP Event Coordinator Nadia Ghouleh highlighted her close proximity to both issues addressed at the vigil in her speech, being of half-Palestinian, half-Mexican descent.
“I’ve seen the struggles we face in the U.S.—not only having to see bombs being dropped in Gaza, but also seeing innocents families being separated, children being torn from their parents—it’s just so devastating to see, and being able to have RSOs on campus, SJP and Unidos, it’s just really nice for us to be able to band together in support of our people who are both facing devastating situation, here and in the Middle East,” Ghouleh said in an interview with The Xavierite.
Nadia Moreno, speaker pro tempore of Unidos, also spoke at the event, noting how her father, a natural-born citizen of the United States of Mexican descent, carries his passport with him, “just in case” he is stopped by ICE.
Moreno shared: “It’s really heartbreaking that we had to have this event. It was really difficult to write my speech because it makes what’s happening real, [but] seeing everybody that came, that showed up—it felt nice. It felt comforting to know that you’re not alone.”
**Corrections, 4/3/2026: “The vigil began with a few words from members of each group, followed by speeches from members of SJP and Unidos and then an open mic.” Removed to avoid repetition; “a ceremony featuring flowers and candles, which ended with“ added to paragraph 2**
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