ANN ARBOR, MI - As protests and rallies continue on the University of Michigan campus, students have latched on to an issue that has gained steam across the country: the creation of a sanctuary campus.

A protest organized on Tuesday, Nov. 15, on the U-M Diag by By Any Means Necessary - a non-U-M organization - was followed by another rally on the Diag Wednesday, in which students walked out of classes to rally against potential future immigration reform in addition to protecting minority students who have been targeted by acts of hatred within the past week.

Wednesday's protest, which included an appearance by civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson, was part of a national movement among colleges and universities with the intent of pushing for the creation of sanctuary campuses.

According to Newsweek, students, faculty and alumni from top schools, including Brown, Harvard, Yale and Columbia, are calling on school leaders to make each of their campuses a "sanctuary" for people who could face deportation under the policies of Trump. Students at universities like Stanford University, Amherst College and Indiana University participated in walkouts for sanctuary campuses in the past couple of days.

"This campus must be a sanctuary," Jackson said in his remarks on the Diag. "We all are a sanctuary. We love each other, we take care of each other - if you take one of us, you must take all of us. We're not going anywhere."

Although organizers from Students4Justice were adamant that Wednesday's rally wasn't an "anti-Trump" protest, student protesters promoted providing a sanctuary campus to protect undocumented immigrants students -- counter to the policies president-elect Donald Trump outlines, including ending sanctuary cities.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, Trump said he plans to immediately deport 2 million to 3 million undocumented immigrants. Trump said he would emphasize criminals before deciding about law-abiding families illegally in the country.

U-M students recently started a petition calling on President Mark Schlissel and Provost Martha Pollack to restrict campus police from inquiring about immigration status and collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in creating a sanctuary campus. The petition has received more than 2,200 online signatures from current students and U-M graduates.

The petition also pledges support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students who have qualified for financial aid despite their undocumented status.

Another petition by U-M faculty does not call for local action, but instead suggests that President Schlissel, in concert with other university leaders, try to affect policy and legislation in Washington, DC. That petition has received around 1,400 signatures.

Because the university doesn't ask for the immigration status of prospective students, U-M Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said he did not know how many undocumented students are enrolled. In 2013, U-M changed its guidelines for in-state tuition, creating a path for undocumented students to quality for in-state tuition.

According to the Rackham Graduate School website, in-state residency is determined by the Registrar's Office and may be granted if the student attended Michigan schools and graduated high school in the state of Michigan within the last 28 months, regardless of their citizenship status. Limited financial assistance, primarily stipends, also are available to undocumented students without DACA status.

"We know there is a lot of uncertainty right now among DACAmented students and we share that concern," Fitzgerald said in an email. "We will continue to watch closely the implications of possible changes, but it's too soon to have any more details."

ICE issued a 2011 memo stating that immigration arrests, interviews, searches and surveillance should not occur at "sensitive locations such as schools and churches...unless (a) exigent circumstances exist, (b) other law enforcement actions have led officers to a sensitive location...or (c) prior approval is obtained."

"The university is in a unique position to prevent ICE from removing students from our campus," the student petition states. "We call for the administration to restrict Campus Police from inquiring about immigration status and collaborating with ICE. Such action is urgent and necessary for promoting a safe, inclusive, and diverse environment for teaching, learning, and research. We and our peers and colleagues are under a tangible threat that requires not just words and symbolic support, but concrete action from the University."

U-M student Vikrant Garg, one of the organizers of the Students4Justice rally, said while Wednesday's protest was intended to draw attention to racism that still exists on campus, he hoped the university would hear the call of students in making U-M a sanctuary for undocumented immigrant students.

"What we're here for and what we really made this for is to make this a sanctuary campus," Garg said. "It's a campus that provides legal services as well as other protective services so ICE can't just come up in here and take people away. This is for the safety of undocumented students."

During the rally, which ended on the steps of Angell Hall, Maria Ibarra-Frayre, a second-year master's student in the School of Social Work, shared her experiences about attending U-M as an undocumented immigrant.

Ibarra-Frayre explained that she currently has DACA status, which protects her to live in the United States for two more years, with uncertainty in her future after that.

"I'm sick of trying to convince people, especially white people, that this is an injustice," she said Wednesday. "Most of all, I'm tired of being afraid of trying to explain myself to other people. That's why I'm calling on all undocumented students to be here for each other and to keep each other safe."