Thousands of High School Students Walk Out To Protest Mass Deportation: ‘We Believe In The Constitution, ICE Does Not’

Thousands of high school students across dozens of states have been standing up for their classmates, communities, and values by walking out of their classrooms in protest of the federal government’s mass deportation agenda. For countless students across our country, these cruel and chaotic policies have hit close to home.

In Massachusetts, honors student Marcelo Gomes da Silva was abducted by ICE while he was on his way to volleyball practice. In California, 15-year-old special needs student Nathan Mejia fell victim to a dreaded “Kavanaugh stop” when he was handcuffed and held at gunpoint despite being an American citizen. And just last week in New York, high school student Dylan Contreras finally won his freedom after more than 300 days in ICE detention. “But while this is a step towards justice, Dylan will never get back the time he unjustly spent behind bars,” as one of his advocates said.

Students outraged over family-shattering policies that have left desks empty have now spent weeks walking out of school en masse to march, chant, and take a stand for their peers, with many of these participants defying disciplinary threats in the process. Many have already been punished. In Virginia, more than 300 students were suspended after walking to protest ICE. Refusing to have their views silenced, they walked again. In Georgia, Atlanta-area students were warned that walking out of class could also result in suspension, as well as a loss of parking privileges and extracurricular privileges. Like the Virginia students, they stood by their ideals anyway.

“A lot of students here are immigrants, so we had to stand up for them,” Christian Silver, a junior who helped organize the protest, told Atlanta Civic Circle. Another student who asked to not be identified “said he was angered by ICE and Border Patrol agents fatally shooting Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, and news reports of ICE and Border Patrol agents sexually abusing detainees,” the report continued. “We want ICE out of our city,” the student said.

In New Hampshire, Nashua High School North and South students “took turns speaking their minds on the recent events and the current political climate, as well as sharing their own stories and experiences of how they have been personally affected, from having family members detained by I.C.E, to fear for their own, and their family’s, safety,” Nashua Ink Link reported.

“I pay attention to the news, I pay attention to what’s going on in our country, I’ve never been quiet about what I believe and why I believe it,” high school student Keegan Dolan told the outlet. “And when I see everything that we’ve been seeing in the news in the last few months with people being shot in the streets, children being detained, people being ripped from their homes and their families, it is just atrocious.”

New Hampshire residents have already shown what’s possible when ordinary people come together, after local residents stopped an ICE warehouse from opening up in the state. These young people are carrying on that energy. “We are here because we believe in our constitutional right to protest, we believe in the constitution, I.C.E does not,” said high school student Kaylee Hall.

In Massachusetts, Mohawk Trail Regional School and Greenfield High School students said they united to show that they “won’t be silent and that we are the next generation to lead,” the Greenfield Reporter said. Holding signs reading “human rights belong to everyone” and chanting “no hate, no fear, ICE has no business here,” students said they wanted to make clear that young people oppose government-sanctioned cruelty and that people have the right to live their lives in peace.

“Both of us have had our own walkouts at our schools, so we thought it would be great to come together to make a bigger statement,” said Mohawk Trail junior Katie Osterman. “We’re here to protest ICE violence, particularly in the past few months, but in general just all the inhumane and unjust things that are happening in our country right now.” Greenfield High School senior Nate Woodard said that he believed that what the government “is doing is wrong and we just want to stand up against it.” He added that immigrant communities “should feel safe in our city.”

That includes his peers, like Gomes da Silva, who spent nearly a week in ICE detention after being abducted by mass deportation agents last year. While he expressed gratitude after a judge cleared the way for his release, he expressed worry for the people he left behind in detention. “He said he served as a translator for the other men in the room and cried when he informed them that their paperwork said they were being deported,” CBS News reported.

“Nobody should be in here,” he said. “Most people in there are all workers. They all got caught going to work. These people have families.” He shared more about the atrocious conditions detained people face during an interview with MassLive.

These students hoping to effect change should know that they really are making a difference. Not only are their actions inspiring us and so many others during a time when it’s easy to feel defeated and discouraged, but they’re forcing their leaders to listen. In New Jersey, “members of Montclair’s town council, including the mayor, said they are working to provide greater protections for immigrant communities after a student-led high school walkout and calls from residents,” as the Montclair Local reported.

The proposed “Montclair Trust Act” would prohibit local collaboration with mass deportation agents, as well as “bar federal immigration enforcement from access to town property or databases ‘absent a valid and properly issued judicial criminal warrant,’” the report said. While the full town council must still consider the proposal, students are being credited with bringing it to light following their recent walkout.

“Montclair High junior Aria said she joined the walkout, organized by sophomores Jules Di Benedetto, Victoria Luna, and Nola Kim, because ICE has been ‘terrorizing people locally and nationwide,’” as the Montclair Local reported March 11.

“There were hundreds of high school students present at this protest because they felt that ICE’s existence in Montclair was enough of an issue that they had to miss their classes to protest it,” Di Benedetto said following news that the “Montclair Trust Act” was gaining traction among leaders. “You as the town council … have the responsibility to serve this community and make sure it is safe for all members, this includes immigrants.”

In Kansas, state leaders have unfortunately learned the wrong lesson. They introduced legislation to penalize schools if students walk out, the Johnson County Post reports. Students, however, are not hesitating from schooling them. “Sydney Mwangi, a senior who helped organize the walkout at Olathe North, says she’s not deterred,” the Johnson County Post report. “I stand for what I believe in, no matter the consequences,” Sydney said.