DeKALB — Students gathered Wednesday in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium for the fifth annual Coming out of the Shadows event hosted by Dream Action NIU.

Dream Action urged the university’s continued support for undocumented students and the creation of a student-funded scholarship for undocumented students. They also demanded the university hire 30 more faculty members of color over the next few years and hire an immigration lawyer to keep on retainer to assist undocumented students.

“We’re here to hold administration and allies accountable to their words,” said Pablo Valencia-Garcia, sophomore athletic training major. “Undocumented students need tangible resources as the political climate continues to be hostile to immigrant communities.”

Valencia-Garcia called for NIU to become a Dream.US partner school, which is an organization dedicated to the creation of scholarships for undocumented students.

Sandra Puebla, a junior political science major, condemned the recent trend of police brutality.

“Police brutality and racism have been pushed to the forefront of our national discussions,” Puebla said. “Dream Action recognizes that ICE and police department cooperation is used to continue the deportation and criminalization of undocumented communities.”

Despite the serious tones of the rally’s subject matter, Coming out of the Shadows used musical performance in addition to speakers.

Braden Astorga-Rollins, junior Spanish major and Dream Action NIU co-vice president, and his band, Salsa Del Norte, opened the event playing traditional Latin music and encouraged the crowd to dance and sing along to the music. He also led the crowd in chants that were later used during the march.

Chants of “no papers, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” and “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here,” among others, rang through the Carl Sandburg Auditorium and later through the Martin Luther King Jr. Commons as the protesters marched to Cole Hall and back.

“Immigrant communities and undocumented communities have nevertheless persisted,” said Christina Abreu, the director of the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies. “America is a nation of immigrants.”

Abreu described the plight of the Irish immigrants who fled the potato famine, the Chinese who built the railroads and faced similar travel restrictions to those President Donald Trump’s administration has attempted to impose and related them to the current plight of the undocumented citizens of America.

“The past is never dead; it’s not even past,” Abreu said, quoting 19th century novelist William Faulkner. “Yesterday’s Chinese exclusion act is today’s travel ban. The literacy test and ‘no Irish need apply’ are repackaged as declarations of English as an official language.”

The halls outside of the Carl Sandburg Auditorium were packed with tables for student organizations supporting the rally, including the Student Association, Helping Huskies Thrive, Supporting Opportunities for Latinos, Prism and Ladies of Distinction.

“There will always be walls to tear down,” Abreu said. “There will always be dreamers and undocumented youth in immigrant communities ready to organize, agitate and fight like hell.”