MeCha (also styled Mecha), an acronym for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, is a student-led Hispanic advocacy movement which claims to have roughly 300 chapters at U.S.-based colleges and universities. MeCha was founded in 1969 during a student conference held in Santa Barbara, California. Other groups use the term “MeCha” to support the group as well as socialist movements within the United States.  ¹ Most chapters focused on universities in the western United States, including the University of Utah and the University of Oregon. ^{2  3  1}

Background

MeCha has advocated for left-of-center policies on criminal justice, immigration, and Palestinian nationalism. In February 2025, MeCha organized a protest on the University of Utah’s campus in opposition to a series of executive orders signed by the second Trump administration authorizing the increase in deportations of  illegal migrants within the United States. ⁴

The main activity of MeCha and its local chapters is organizing protests on college campuses against the enforcement of immigration law in the United States. ²

Activities

In September 2023, Mecha’s chapter at the University of Utah hosted a lecture with left-of-center gun rights group Armed Queers Salt Lake City (SLC), which the University sponsored.  ⁵ According to the local chapter of right-of-center group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), posters advertising the lecture included an activist with a firearm and the words “Agitate, Educate, and Organize,” which the YAF chapter claimed was advocating violence. The national group later released a statement, claiming it “supports the Second Amendment and the responsibility its privileges demand…[but] [t]he flyer used to promote the militia’s event, depicting an individual holding a firearm with her finger on the trigger, is in direct violation of one of the universal rules of gun safety.” ^{6  7}

In April 2024, Mecha organized a pro-Palestinian protest and encampment movement at the University of Utah to oppose the State of Israel during the Israel-Hamas war.  Mecha also advocated for the University of Utah to support the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement and to end its affiliation with 47G, a technology and defense organization with ties to Israel. At least 17 protesters were arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct. ³

In February 2025, Mecha organized a protest at the University of Utah to oppose the Trump administration’s enforcement of immigration law across the United States. The protest, which allegedly had 80 protesters, protested the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement it would be suspending several policies that previously prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from making arrests in schools and churches. The protest was supported and attended by members of Armed Queers SLC, Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and Mormons for Hope. ⁴

1. “About Us.” University of Oregon Blog. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://blogs.uoregon.edu/mecha/about-us/
2. “@mechadeuofu Instagram Profile.” Instagram. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://www.instagram.com/mechadeuofu/?hl=en
3. Hinds, Josi and Hudson, Vanessa.“At Least 17 Protesters Arrested After U Students Set Up Encampment in Solidarity with Palestine.” The Daily Utah Chronicle. April 29, 2024. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2024/04/29/u-students-encampment-solidarity-with-palestine/
4. Hagy, Emerson and Hinds, Josi. “Mecha Demands the U Become a Sanctuary Campus.” The Daily Utah Chronicle. February 7, 2025. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2025/02/07/mecha-demands-action-immigration-utah/
5. Christenson, Josh and Nesi, Chris. “Founder of Armed Queers group investigated in Charlie Kirk shooting is radical trans leftist who advocated violence.” New York Post. September 17, 2025. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/09/17/us-news/armed-queers-founder-ermiya-fanaeian-is-radical-trans-leftist/
6. Lamb, Matt. “Socialist ‘Armed Queers’ to speak at University of Utah.” The College Fix. September 26, 2023. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://www.thecollegefix.com/socialist-armed-queers-to-speak-at-university-of-utah/
7. Baker, Nick. “University of Utah Sponsors Lecture by ‘Armed Queers’ Socialist Militia.” YAF. September 26, 2023. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://yaf.org/news/university-of-utah-sponsors-lecture-by-armed-queers-socialist-militia/