Around 300 students participated in a walkout beginning at 11:36 to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Austin and the agency’s recent murders and deportations. This display was organized over social media and follows the wildfire trend sparking protests in the greater Austin area and nationwide.
This was not a school organized event, nor was any opinion voiced by administration, save to express protesting as within students’ First Amendment rights. Students who left were not allowed back on campus, with any belongings or vehicles to be collected after 3:35.
Junior Eli Youngthunder: “The American flag means freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of press. I believe we have a right to protest. The American flag means the people have a say in what the government does. ICE right now is like an unaccounted police force, and an unaccounted police force is kind of like the Gestapo from Nazi Germany. I really just hope that we could reform the ICE institution.”
Freshman Dominic Loera: “Us immigrants do a lot of work for this country. People say that ‘this is our land,’ but this land was stolen from Native Americans as well. Really, we need to treat humans with equality and respect. People, society, they blame immigrants, but what about billionaires who’ve worse things?”
Senior Elizabeth Calixtro: “There are a lot of supposedly religious people out there who support Trump and him killing people. It’s so anti-humanity. And it’s insane because how can you say you’re standing with Jesus, when he was an immigrant as well?”
Parent volunteer Anthony Nelson: “My daughter is a person of color that goes to the school, and anytime they express themselves, express their civic duty and rights, I think that’s a wonderful thing to support and encourage. I’m following this walkout so that I can keep an eye on all the kids, just in case there are some bad actors. I want to make sure they’re safe.”
Junior Minh Tran: “Get ICE out of here. This is a free country, people came here for opportunities, so why the hell are you kicking us out? I’m an immigrant myself, I came here 16 years ago with my mom and started from nothing. The fact that they want to deport so many people is just wrong.”
Senior Jackson Horn: “I’m here to show support for my favorite Mexicans. I hate ICE, they’re going rampant with the power they’ve been given. They aren’t being trained properly and it’s causing a lot of harm and a lot of death. The amount of death and destruction this kind of stuff can cause is incredibly dangerous, especially for the patriotism of the general populace of our country. Making stupid decisions like giving random guys guns and having them improperly enforce the law isn’t right. I understand the idea of what they’re doing, but they shouldn’t be allowed to kill people. The more people that hear this message and understand it, the more votes it will get when it comes time for democracy. We need to spread the word and spread our ideals.”
Senior Alex Rodriguez: “People being killed…isn’t right. I’ve seen my dad get manhandled by ICE- they didn’t even try to ask for identification, they just detained him. Every time I’m outside now my parents and I are on watch to make sure that we’re not about to get tackled by ICE or something. I want people to see that we’re actually using our voices and we’re not okay with this. I want to see ICE held accountable for their actions of killing innocent people.”
Senior Isabella Hall: “Due process is a constitutional right and people don’t realize immigrants have the same rights in the constitution. My family is mainly immigrants so those rights mean a lot to me. My aunt, cousin and uncle all came here with visas legally and the government took that away from them even though they did everything right. It’s terrifying having them leave the house knowing they could be taken.”
