HUNDREDS OF SAN RAMON VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS rose from their seats at 11:15 a.m. during fourth period on Jan. 30 and met in the quad to protest aggressive ICE immigration enforcement.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been a topic on many people’s minds lately, especially after what happened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On Jan. 7, Renée Nicole Good, 37, was fatally shot in her car as she was attempting to drive away after being confronted by ICE agents, after she had blocked the street.
Seventeen days later, on Jan. 24, Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who worked in a veterans facility, was beaten and shot to death by federal agents while attempting to help a female protester.
Since the Minneapolis incidents and many others throughout the country, people have started to protest the actions of ICE and other federal officers.
The San Ramon High students gathered in the quad, chanting and holding homemade signs. Hundreds of teenagers walked around the outside of the school expressing their views about ICE. The genesis of the protest plan was unclear.
Although the protest was mostly peaceful, students were met with some opposition. According to Aviva Feder, a student who attends SRV in Danville and participated in the march, a pro-ICE group of around 20 people attempted to stir up some conflict with the anti-ICE group by blocking their path. She said a driver passing the walkout honked and flipped off the students.
However, Feder reported that students were peaceful and polite, refusing to be provoked.
“I think it gave a lot of hope and gratefulness, and like, I felt like my bucket was filled, and that I was just, I was just kind of grateful,” she said. “And I think that there is a big thing at SRV like, oh, everyone’s MAGA, everyone’s super Trump, everyone’s not like Democratic at all, everyone’s super up again and conservative. But I honestly think the conservatives are just louder and there’s not necessarily a surplus, or there’s not just like an overwhelming amount of them. I just think they’re louder. And I think today we had our chance to be loud.”
Mya Eifler is a 10th grader at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville and a CCYJ reporter. She is a member of the school’s journalism club, the Wolfprint.
This story originally appeared in CCSpin.