‘We want change’: Utah students organize school walkouts to protest ICE

Hundreds of Salt Lake County students walked out of class Friday to protest the ongoing immigration enforcement crackdown under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The walkouts came a week after many other schools also walked out on Friday, Jan. 30, as part of a national general strike that called for no school and no work in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At Skyline High School this Friday, students left class at about 11:20 a.m. and marched toward Big Cottonwood Regional Park, where they intended to meet up with other student protesters from Olympus High School.

“As high school students, we just don’t tend to have a big place to share our voices, and this is something that’s incredibly important to us,” said 15-year-old Skyline student Leo Mildon. “We want to show that we are not standing for what is going on with ICE.”

Students at Highland and Cottonwood high schools also participated, but marched to different locations.

At private Judge Memorial Catholic High School, students planned to walk out, too, then march to Sunnyside Park, a student organizer said.

In Murray, about 300 students from Riverside Jr. High School, Hillcrest Jr. High School and Murray High School organized a combined walkout, marching together down State Street to Murray City Hall, carrying signs and cheering.

And in West Valley City, students who walked out of Granger High School late Friday morning could be seen gathering for a large protest at West Valley City Park.

Leo said many of his Skyline peers who come from immigrant families are living in a constant state of fear.

“And their parents, who are immigrants, legally, are worried about being taken out of the country that they are legally in,” he said.

Murray High School junior Freddie Cochrane, who organized his school’s protest, echoed Leo’s concerns.

“They’re scared every single day to go home to not see their parents anymore,” Freddie said of his friends who are immigrants. “And that’s not OK. We shouldn’t be living in a community that we’re scared to go home.”

Leo added that he’s disappointed in adults, because he feels like they aren’t doing enough to stand up to ICE.

“This is our way of showing that we just don’t approve of that, the Skyline student added. ”We want change and we want it now.”

Skyline as well as Olympus, Cottonwood and Granger high schools are all part of Granite School District, where officials this week reminded families and students that protesting counts as an unexcused absence.

“Schools and staff do not and should not encourage walkouts or disruptions to the school day,” Superintendent Ben Horsley said in a video message emailed to students and families Thursday afternoon.

“But we also can’t prevent students from choosing to participate in a protest if it’s done peacefully,” he added. “These are not excused absences.”

As students left their classrooms Friday, several dozen found their way to the Utah Capitol, where lawmakers were convening for their annual legislative session.

There, students rallied on the south steps, a common location for protests. The gathering was organized over social media, across different schools, one young protester said.

“Sorry I can’t go to class, I have to fight [fascism],” one sign read.

Together, the crowd chanted: “We want justice, we want peace. Get ICE of our streets.”