Students held a walkout on Feb. 28 to protest recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. The students left the MHS campus around 1:20 p.m. and walked to Milpitas City Hall.
Senior Eva Saucedo, one of the organizers, was inspired to lead the walkout following major events involving ICE that happened nationwide, she said.
“What inspired me to organize was the injustices against not only the immigrants but also the American citizens who were born and raised here,” Saucedo said. “All of those people were entitled to constitutional rights, and the administration was not giving them the respect or due process that they were expected to receive.”
Before arriving at City Hall, many students marched outside while others drove by holding signs from their cars along the way.
Walkout participants could also excuse themselves from school due to California Senate Bill 955, which allows for students to be excused once per school year to protest.
The organizers asked for a meeting with the school administration as part of the planning process, Saucedo said.
“We talked to Principal Wohlman, and essentially, he was like, ‘When is it? Where is it? How many people are going?’” Saucedo said. “We had only estimated about 80 people at the time. We had that conversation with Wohlman, the on-campus police, and an administrator as well.”
The school administration also suggested their own ideas for the walkout, an organizer who wished to be anonymous said. This included suggestions for the walkout time, though the walkout organizers rejected the idea, they added.
“Initially, they wanted to do it after school, and we pushed back on that,” the organizer said. “We gave them reasons why, as this is supposed to be a walkout, an interruption of the normal school schedule for the purpose of raising awareness.”
The organizers realized that many students were hesitant to join the walkout due to the fear of having their absence marked as unexcused, the anonymous organizer said. The organizers had a meeting with the administration to resolve this issue, they added.
“The goal there was trying to ensure that we could get as many people to go as possible, and we recognized that the biggest reason that a lot of people weren’t able to go was that they were afraid of being marked absent and missing class,” the organizer said. “So our goal with talking to the school administration was to remove that issue so we could get more people coming, and the school was really cooperative.”
The city hall was not the original walkout destination and was changed after another organizer’s suggestion, the organizer said.
“Initially, we were going to the Loop Gas Station, but it felt like a pointless destination to us,” Anonymous said. “One of us threw out the idea of going to City Hall because it’s more impactful to go to the capital of the city to speak our concerns on public property. It was a little farther, but I think it was worth it because it’s more impactful.”
The walkout time was chosen to be 1:20 p.m. so that students wouldn’t have to return back to campus, Saucedo said.
“We decided to have it be after lunch so everyone could eat and be all right for the walkout and also so that people don’t have to come back to school,” Saucedo said. “The point is that we’re showing up in solidarity, so we’re not coming back to school.”
Once the walkout arrived at City Hall, students surrounded the front of the building, with many holding protest signs and protesting.
Senior Joshua Hom gave tips on what people should do while participating in walkouts protesting ICE.
“I think some advice I have is make sure you’re recording everything,” Hom said. “It’s a lot harder for ICE agents and people like them to wrongfully prosecute you if you have video evidence.”
Student photographers took pictures as students walked to City Hall and as they protested in the front of the building.
Senior Allie Klaydman, who photographed the event for yearbook, also participated in the walkout to advocate for the rights of her loved ones to remain protected, she said.
“I come from a family of immigrants, and I really want their rights to stay protected,” Klaydman said. “I think ICE itself is not something that needs to be, one, an organization, and two, something that is hurting families.”
Despite there being challenges that hinder plans, there are future ideas to help encourage student activism, the anonymous organizer said.
“A lot of the other organizers were thinking that we didn’t want this to be the only thing we do this year,” the organizer said. “We want to continue activism and not have this be a one-off, and that’s hard because we already used up our one chance with getting people excused, but we definitely want to do something in the future.”
