On Tuesday, Feb. 17, several hundred MTHS students left their third period classes to protest anti-immigration activity directed by the federal government. Much of this activity has been at the hands of the agency called Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more commonly known as ICE.
ICE has been a very prominent focus of the second Trump administration, conducting raids and deportations in U.S. cities. Its behavior has prompted a nationwide outcry because many of its operations have been aimed at legitimate U.S. citizens, rather than illegal immigrants. Two Minneapolis residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by ICE agents in Jan., leading to massive protests. Americans across the country, including both Democrats and Republicans, are enraged by the agency’s actions.
These events inspired several MTHS students to organize a protest of their own. The organizing group included senior Brody Ketner, senior Ethan Mellinger, junior Rylie Martin, junior Myla Sentz and sophomore Isabella George, among others. They created an Instagram account (@mtstudentsagainstice) that garnered schoolwide attention, reposting anti-ICE content by other accounts and advertising the walkout. The account encouraged students to wear blue on Jan. 28 in solidarity with immigrants, which is also how many students who did not directly participate in the walkout showed their support for it.
“I knew I wanted to do this from the start,” Martin said. “The moment we thought of the idea, I was all in for this.”
The organizers met with the school administration to tell them about the plan for the walkout and request a secure atmosphere for participating students. The administration couldn’t pick a political side, but promised to ensure the safety of the protestors. The day before the walkout, Feb. 16, an email was sent to MTHS families and an accompanying announcement was made warning students of possible punishments, which the Instagram account labeled as “vague and threatening.” Many students were scared of receiving detentions, suspensions or zeros on their assignments, but the general consensus was that the more people participated, the less people would get in trouble.
An estimated 350 students gathered in the cafeteria after second period on Feb. 17, exiting through the cafeteria doors. The route of the walkout circled the bus loop and middle/high school car line, with students stopping at certain points for speeches and chants. Many participants had made signs with sayings like “we are skipping our lessons to teach you one,” “liberty and justice for all” and “stop ICE terror now.” Faculty members were present to maintain a peaceful, safe environment. At one point, the group split, with several students reentering the school about 10 minutes before the end of third period and most continuing to protest outside until the middle of fourth period. Students’ IDs were scanned when going back inside.
“There are a lot of immigrant families in our school, and despite ICE only supposed to be detaining undocumented immigrants, they’re still targeting documented immigrants and I think that’s horrible,” sophomore and walkout participant Lex McCaskey-Campbell said. “That could affect so many families, including my own.”
Following the walkout, many MTHS students, as well as the organizing group, posted pictures and videos to their Instagram accounts, saying how proud they were of the school community.
“As children, our thoughts are pushed away,” George said. “We need them to know we have our own opinions. We need them to know this is the generation they are raising.”
