More than 20 Tavares High School students from multiple grade levels walked out Feb. 9 and gathered along U.S. 441 in Lake County’s capital to protest U.S. immigration enforcement practices and policies.
The group was among thousands of middle and high school students across the U.S. who have been taking to the streets to protest the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis last month.
Last week, students walked out of Leesburg High School to protest ICE. Lake County Schools released a statement explaining that students may face class suspension for participating in protests during school hours.
«Lake County Schools recognizes that students retain First Amendment rights, including the right to express their views on matters of public concern. We believe that civic engagement can be an important part of learning … our top priorities during the school day are student safety, appropriate supervision, and protecting instructional time. Leaving campus without authorization and refusing directives to return to class creates serious safety and supervision concerns and causes disruption of school operations,» the statement said.
According to student Isabella Thompson, a 10th grader at Tavares High, the students knew in advance that they risked school suspension.
«The school spoke out about it multiple times on announcements over the intercom,» she explained, adding that a warning was given that participation might result in a 10-day suspension. «We decided to come out here today to protest against ICE and what they have been doing in our community all around the state and nation.»
She said that she and the other protesters are against what has been documented as the lack of due process.
«We believe that what they have been doing is very wrong and not what they were meant to do. They are deporting children. They’re deporting people who are already in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen,» Thompson said. «There are many cases that should be considered as murder. People forget that our president’s wife is an immigrant and was here on a visa working illegally, but nothing was done.
According to a USA Today report, Melania Trump was paid for 10 modeling jobs in the U.S. in 1996 before she had the legal authorization to work, raising questions about whether she was working on a visitor visa. She has maintained that she followed all immigration laws.
«We have many people out here supporting us, honking and giving a thumbs up, but we also have quite a few people, particularly elderly, flipping us off and saying that this is sad what we are doing, but we are out here risking punishment from our school to support what we think is right,» Thompson said.