Lincoln High School students walked out of class Tuesday afternoon to rally against recent ICE activity in Portland.
Roughly 80 students marched from their downtown campus to Portland City Hall, where they gathered to chant, give speeches, and observe a moment of silence for those who’ve died in ICE custody.
Students marched with signs like “Abolish ICE” and “Immigrants built America” and “ICE has no place in schools.” Tuesday’s rally was organized by Jasmine Hamilton, a Lincoln High student who says she wanted a peaceful way to show resistance and spread awareness of what’s going on and “bring people together to make them understand that their voice matters, too.”
“We stand here today as students and people of Portland walking out of our classrooms and our homes and into our cities to say one thing clearly: We will not stay silent while human beings are dying in ICE custody,” Hamilton said through a megaphone. “At least 20 people have died this year and these are not just numbers. They’re lives and they’re families and they’re stories and people’s futures that have been taken from them.”
address a crowd of students.
courtney vaughn
Hamilton said she organized the walkout and rally with help from a few friends.
“I have friends and I know a lot of people around me also have family and friends that have been deeply impacted by their family being taken away,” Hamilton told the Mercury. “We have no idea what’s happening to these people inside ICE detention facilities, so it’s very important that we spread the message so people know what’s going on. I want to be that voice for the people who can’t speak up, and I feel like not enough people are speaking up about this.”
The event follows a violent immigration arrest outside George Middle School last week, in which ICE agents fired pepper balls outside the school amid a crowd of parents trying to observe the arrest. It’s not the first time ICE agents have fired chemical irritants outside a school. In October, federal agents in Chicago hurled tear gas canisters into a parking lot across from an elementary school.
Last week, another parent was arrested outside Roosevelt High School after dropping off his children, the Oregonian reported.
ICE agents were also documented arresting a high school student last month in McMinnville, a US citizen, while he was driving around during a school lunch break. ICE agents busted the driver’s side window when the teen didn’t immediately exit the vehicle. Federal officers said the teen was obstructing Border Patrol agents with his SUV. The agents called ICE for backup.
Schools, along with churches and other places of worship, were previously considered sensitive locations that were off limits to immigration agents prior to Trump’s second term. The president reversed that policy in a large-scale effort to ramp up immigration enforcement and deportations by any means necessary.
It’s those policies that have irked students like Hamilton. After giving a speech via megaphone, Hamilton invited other students to do the same.
“To decide that people cannot be on this land isn’t right, because this was never our land to begin with,” Zoe, another Lincoln student, told the Mercury after making a brief statement to the crowd. “We took it through violence. We’re now taking people out of it through violence. It’s not right. They built this country.”
Zoe emphasized the importance of speaking out and standing up whenever possible, even if it doesn’t produce immediate change.
“So many rights that we have now were given to us because of protests,” she added.
For some, the rally and protest hit close to home.
“My mother is an immigrant from Sweden and Iran, and my parents are from Iran, so I firmly believe it is important to stand up for the rights of immigrants when they are under such stress,” Addison, a Lincoln High student told the Mercury.
Lincoln High School students weren’t the only ones who walked out Tuesday. Students at McDaniel High in Northeast Portland also staged a walkout to protest ICE.
