Hundreds of students walked out of high schools across Washington on Friday for a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the latest and among the most visible in a national wave of student protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement action.
Within a short walk of the White House, the students carrying posters and flags came from schools all over the city — public, private and religious. At least one said student he was home-schooled.
Some said they had been planning this demonstration for weeks, coordinating with friends. Others said they had learned about it on social media at the last minute, and hurriedly drew protest signs in school on Friday.
In recent months, thousands of students have walked out of class in more than three dozen states, controlled by both Democrats and Republicans, to protest the aggressive tactics of federal immigration agents — among them, the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens last month in Minneapolis, as well as the detention and deportation of thousands of migrants and at least some permanent U.S. residents.
In Tampa, Fla., about 60 students marched in an anti-ICE protest this month. In Baltimore, the student government president of Dunbar High School led dozens of his classmates down snowy sidewalks to City Hall. Students have walked out of numerous schools in the Washington suburbs, facing suspension in some places.
Elected officials and school administrators have taken different approaches to the walkouts. More than 100 students were suspended in Oklahoma, and at least five teenagers were arrested following a confrontation with police in Quakertown, Pa.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has also called for the arrest of disorderly student protesters, and suggested that state funding could be stripped from school districts where walkouts have taken place. When Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia delivered the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union address this week, however, she praised student protesters “whose voices are becoming so powerful that the governor of Texas seeks to silence them.”
On Friday, many students said their teachers and administrators knew of the plans, which had circulated widely on social media in recent days, and did not object. The students walked out of their schools around 2 p.m., and came to the National Mall by car, subway and foot. The demonstration, which lasted about an hour, included speeches and chants; a rock band played behind the main group of speakers.
Washington was one of the first cities to face a surge of federal agents last year, with the deployment of hundreds of officers and National Guard troops in August. Some of the students at the protest said they knew people who were detained, or friends who were stopped and questioned by federal officers. Some described being stopped themselves.
“They pulled over me and my mom,” said Taylor Richey, 17, who protested along with scores of her classmates at McKinley Technical High School.
Christian Clarke, 16, one of the protest organizers at Gonzaga College High School, a Catholic boy’s school, said he had been anticipating the protest for weeks. “I’ve seen firsthand ICE come into the street and snatch people up,” he said.
Campbell Robertson reports for The Times on Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
The post Near the White House, Hundreds of High School Students Protest ICE appeared first on New York Times.
