Hundreds of students from across Washington walked out of school Friday afternoon to protest actions taken during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Under the banner “The Fight Isn’t Over Yet,” students from at least a dozen private, public and charter schools left their campuses at 2 p.m. and started marching toward the Lincoln Memorial to denounce the federal government’s increasingly aggressive deportation tactics. High school students who helped organize the walkout blasted Immigration and Customs Enforcement for killing two American citizens protesting ICE operations in Minneapolis last month.
Organizers said they expected at least 1,000 students to converge on the Lincoln Memorial, where the protest would reach a crescendo.
At least 100 students from School Without Walls left their campus near George Washington University to march south, holding anti-ICE signs: “ICE Melts Under Resistance,” “Keep Families Together” and “ICE Out Now!”
Nati Pinilla, a 16-year-old junior at Jackson-Reed High School, told The Washington Post she started organizing the walkout more than a month ago after an ICE agent fatally shot Renée Good in Minneapolis. A Latina, Pinilla said people around her live in constant fear of being snatched off the street. From neighbors to her grandmother, the fear has been palpable for months, she said.
“It’s really hurtful and really disturbing to see what’s happening in my community and this country as a whole,” she said.
With Friday’s walkout, D.C. students joined a growing number of student-led anti-ICE protests around the country. From Maryland and Virginia to Texas and California, students in more than three dozen states have walked out of class in recent weeks to protest ICE.
In some places, officials have pushed back. Earlier this month, school officials in Prince William County in Virginia suspended 323 Woodbridge High School students for leaving school property during a walkout.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) suggested this month that state funding could be taken from school districts that allow protests and that students who are disorderly during protests should be arrested. In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) applauded the suspension of more than 100 students from Mustang Public Schools after they walked out of class to protest ICE.
Back in D.C., student protest organizer Nati said students can have an impact even if they aren’t old enough to cast a ballot.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we can do besides voting,” she said. “We can put pressure on our government. We can expand our voices. We can just be loud and speak out.”
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