Hundreds of students streamed out of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, when the bell rang for fifth period.
Organizers Evan Schwartz and Dalia Rees, both juniors at the school, said the act of protest was in response to recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“We’re doing this walkout in protest of ICE brutality in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in order to get MCPS to promise that they will not cooperate with ICE at all,” Schwartz said.
Rees said she felt the walkout was necessary: “Because this is the world we’re growing up in and it’s really important that we are politically active and remain so.”
Along with adopting a policy barring ICE from conducting enforcement on school campuses, Schwartz said they’re also asking for the high school to “educate students about civil liberties as part of assemblies,” with more instruction on constitutional rights and liberties.
Freshman Mariana Spensley-Aguirre, who is a legal U.S. citizen whose family is originally from Mexico, told WTOP, “I’ve had to have discussions with my parents as to whether I have to carry an ID that says that I’m a citizen, even with my appearance.”
She described herself as not looking like “the target community.”
Spensley-Aguirre explained she was planning her quinceañera, a traditional Latin American celebration for girls when they turn 15. But, she said, some family members are too afraid to attend what should be a joyous family occasion.
“Everyone’s living in fear and everyone’s worried, and we’re watching the news and it’s terrifying,” she said.
Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson Liliana Lopez explained the school system’s current policy regarding ICE enforcement on school grounds.
“If immigration officials visit a school, MCPS staff follow a step-by-step process to handle the situation appropriately,” she wrote in an email. “This includes verifying the visitor’s identity, obtaining any official documentation including warrant and subpoena, and notifying MCPS legal counsel for guidance.”
Lopez also pointed out the school system has information for families.
Regarding school system policy on walkouts and its guidance on the issue, the school district states students have the right to “peacefully assemble” and express their views, and that there are procedures that are designed to facilitate that.
Schwartz said after the walkout, he’d been notified that walking out of the fifth period class would result in an unexcused absence.