Across Indiana High Schools, there were many student-led walkouts to protest the injustice of ICE policies throughout February. Now, these students are tasked with thinking about their next steps in demanding change.
“The protest can't be the only thing we do for this issue because protests only start the conversation,” said senior Melia Nickleson, one of the student organizers. “The real change is when we start getting everyone involved, and we can move to people higher up. This is only the beginning. We want to stay organized and act knowledgeable. We won't stop until a change is made.”
Warren Central High School held its student-led walkout on Feb. 6, with hundreds of students walking out of school after the third period bell to show their support for the movement against ICE. Many Warren senior students led the protest.
“The goal of these protests was to bring awareness to ICE because we don’t like the treatment that they're giving to kids and parents of those kids,” said junior Daisy Roa, another student organizer. “We want change for that.”
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a government agency that is responsible for enforcing immigration laws and deportations. Its policies and enforcement have already sparked a national debate in many years prior.
“I feel like, personally, the roles of ICE are to break up families and be so coldhearted because they genuinely show no empathy for those people,” Roa said. “Because how could you hurt a family, like, imagine that was you. But overall, their roles in the community are really bad, and that's not okay.”
The movement to abolish ICE has become widespread throughout the nation, bringing concern to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The protest against ICE has made students more aware of this nationwide movement. Teens nationwide have been able to stand up for themselves and for those who can't stand up for themselves.
“Personally, I chose to stand up for those who can't because it impacts people’s families, my friends and my community, making it a major issue for me,” Nickleson said. “I have a voice, and I will continue to use it until this injustice is brought to an end. It’s our responsibility now to speak up, so I stood up because in this case, silence is never an option.”
Warren students don’t want this to be just another trend. The student leaders who organized the walkout have been working to get GoFundMe fundraisers going to raise money for those families who were affected the most by these ICE invasions.
“I believe to keep the topic relevant, we should start encouraging open, respectful classroom discussions where we as students can share different perspectives and also be able to support our ideas with evidence,” senior student organizer Mauricio Martinez said.
For many of these Warren Central students, the immigration policy is not just another political issue. It directly impacts their lives, classmates' lives and neighbors’ lives. The fear of ICE makes this situation a lot more important and personal to students.
“The main reason I chose to be part of this was that there was a day I had come home,” Roa said. “My mom was crying to me, telling me that ICE is so bad here that my grandma had to lose her job because they didn't want to put her at risk, and this drove me to want to speak up for her because she shouldn't have to be afraid to be working.”
As student-led activism grows around the United States, Warren Central's walkout reflects a movement of young people using their voices to advocate for causes they believe in.
“I think a win a year from now, to me, would look like seeing real change in how immigration enforcement is handled and that human rights and dual process actually come first,” Martinez said. “To me, that means immigrants would be treated with dignity, not fear. It would mean families wouldn't have to worry about being separated, and kids and adults wouldn't have to live in constant fear.”