Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance Support Statement for Rick Toledo
The Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA), condemns the March 6th arrest of Rick Toledo, a grad student at Cal Poly Humboldt, and an active member of the Humboldt Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Rick is currently facing 15 years or more in state prison for his organizing at Humboldt, where he courageously participated in a one-day occupation on campus in February of this year that united various movements, calling not only for the university to divest from Israeli bonds but also for sanctuary policies to keep ICE off campus. For this, Rick is facing four bogus felony charges: false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, and battery. He has been suspended from the university and fired from his campus job and, more recently, had his electronics seized by the University Police Department in an effort to find evidence for a crime that was never committed.
These charges and punishments are absurd. Speaking out for a Free Palestine is not a crime. Demanding a safe environment on campus without the presence of immigration enforcement is not a crime. Students have the right to organize. Humboldt SDS has always fought hard for Palestinian liberation, occupying Siemens hall for nine days in the Spring of 2024 and demanding the university divest from genocide. Cal Poly Humboldt’s administration clearly fears this and would rather use Rick as an example than concede to the students demands of divestment. This attack, coordinated with the Attorney General of California, is only the latest attempt to punish and make an example of activists to silence our movements.
In 2025, when Alejandro Orellana was targeted by the FBI, organizations all across the country united to fight back and protest the bogus charges, and we won! Alejandro’s charges last year were dropped and we are confident that through people power, Rick’s will be too. We will fight for Rick the same way we would fight for any student in our local Jacksonville SDS, who were criminalized in 2024 for their encampment on UNF’s campus as well.
We demand that the District Attorney of Humboldt County drop ALL charges against Rick Toledo and that his personal electronics be returned to him immediately.
Please donate to Rick’s legal fund and keep a lookout for actions around April 20th which will be the date of Rick’s first court appearance.
Protesting for Palestine is not a crime! ICE out of everywhere!
