Teens Were All In for National ICE Protests: 'This Is My Civic Duty'
My teen daughter got home early on Friday night—not from a party but from the National Shutdown ICE Out protest in New York City. There, she held up a homemade sign as she and about a dozen high school friends joined thousands of others who marched through the frigid, gridlocked streets during Friday’s rush hour, screaming chants until they were hoarse.
“That was amazing,” she said afterward. Her toes may have been frozen, but I saw hope in her eyes.
I’ve been bringing her to protests since she was an infant—for LGBTQ and women’s rights, and against gun violence and discrimination of all kinds—but this time, in the wake of violence by federal agents in Minneapolis, it was all her. Same with so many of her friends, some of whom were attending their very first protest on Friday.
It felt like a watershed moment. Because anyone’s who’s been going to lots or protests lately knows that the median age can feel a lot like it’s in solid Boomer territory. This time, though, in cities from New York to Los Angeles and Atlanta to Boise, teens turned out.
“I’m here because it’s just so disheartening to see everything that’s been happening with ICE—it’s truly such a terrible system and it’s insane that our government currently supports it,” Izzy, an 18-year-old high school senior told me at Friday’s New York City protest. “And just as a New Yorker, coming from a place with so many diverse cultures, it’s so important to me to show up for the people who care for me and who I care for, and to represent my community.”
It’s difficult to find specific numbers on how many students took part on Friday, but actions across the U.S. were widespread. The National Shutdown website reports 300 official actions across 50 states by over 1,000 organizations—including many student groups from both colleges and high schools. Reports about high school walkouts came from every corner of the nation: Houston; Austin; Atlanta; Red Bank, NJ; Brooklyn; Phoenix; South Bend; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Detroit; Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis; and countless more cities and towns.
In New York City, Ariana, 14, said she is a first-generation American in a family of Mexican immigrants, and wanted to “fight for my people”—like LJ and Dylan, 16-year-old friends who showed up together to stand up for their immigrant families.
“My family is from Taiwan and his is from Argentina,” LJ said. “And we know that immigrants are what makes this country. Plus, I tutor underprivileged elementary schoolers, and they are undocumented, and I can’t imagine how I would feel if I found out if anything happened to them.”
“We feel really connected to this issue,” added Dylan. “And we’re seeing all the horrible things that are happening with ICE and we want to do our part and make a difference.”
Talia, 16, showed up in the bitter cold with some friends because, she said, “this is what I think of when I think of democracy. And under this government,” she added, “we’re not seeing it represented by who’s in office and who’s in charge. This is what’s going to change that. This is my civic duty. And I believe what’s going on in our country is wrong.”