When seventh grader Athena Lin went outside on Feb. 10, it was chilly but the sun was shining. She joined over a hundred students who protested against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, at 1:03 p.m. and started to walk around the campus. They went all the way to the end of the driveway and back to the school. At the end, they chanted ICE out. The protest ended at 1:30, and everyone went back to their classes.
“Immigrants shouldn’t be illegally deported because everybody is allowed to be here,” seventh grader Athena Lin said. “Nobody is illegal.”
This protest was to the ICE agency, who were responsible for enforcing more than 400 federal statutes related to the country’s interior borders, customs, trade, and immigration. There have been mixed opinions on whether there should be ICE, but ever since they have killed two United States citizens and there were six deaths in ICE custody, there has been a lot of opposition growing. People around the nation started protesting against ICE.
“I had seen on the news how ICE was treating people, and I really don’t want that,” seventh grader Cora Martinson said.
Though some may think that ICE is necessary, some believe the US government shouldn’t enforce policies that deport people who have come into the country without a Visa.
“I think we’re responsible for keeping our own viewpoints and making sure that all our voices are heard,” seventh grader Katherine Wang said.
The protest was arranged and organized by eighth graders Luisa Casillas-Lopez and Pearl Keller.
“I wanted to organize the protest for a number of reasons, but one of the most prominent ones is my Latina heritage,” Casillas-Lopez said. “Being Puerto Rican, I had a very strong opinion about ICE and the people they’re hurting. I felt that my community, my people were being attacked for just trying to live a normal and happy life in America. The people around me that were scared to leave their house because of their skin color and the fear that I experienced myself because of my own skin tone were deepening my sadness, anger and anxiety in a time when those emotions were already present in a middle school setting. Then, when I started hearing about other schools walking out and protesting, I realized that I didn’t just have to sit and wait for these problems and the emotions that come with them to go away.”
She talked about it with her best friend, Keller, and they both realized that they wanted to do something. They emailed Mrs. Fluker, got a meeting with her, and the rest was sorted within the next half hour.
“It was a really great experience for both me and Pearl to lead the protest, seeing parents, students and people in the community that came to support us,” Casillas-Lopez said. “Mine and my peers’ voices matter and I wanted to prove that, not just to the students at Clague but also to prove it to myself!” said Casillas-Lopez.
Students in the protest also knew that their voices’ nee to be heard.
“Every little bit counts, so I hope this protest will, for one, encourage other schools to do these protests, and two, in the long run, abolish ICE agents,” seventh grader Cora Martinson said.
