More than 200 high school students walked out of class on Tuesday morning and marched through downtown Redwood City, chanting for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the Bay Area as word spread of fresh arrests happening across San Mateo County that same morning. The students gathered in the courtyard in front of the city’s Hall of Justice and Records before marching toward Jefferson Avenue, carrying signs and demanding an end to what they called the criminalization of immigrants.
Student organizers represented the Sequoia Union High School District and Midpeninsula School in Menlo Park, according to The Almanac. As they marched, they chanted “La gente unida jamás será vencida,” a Spanish phrase that translates to “The people united will never be defeated,” the outlet reported. Signs read “No one is illegal on stolen land” and “We are not criminals, we are dreamers,” capturing the mood of a crowd that organizers said was responding directly to reported ICE enforcement in neighborhoods many of them call home.
Arrests Reported Across the Peninsula the Same Morning
The walkout unfolded against the backdrop of a fast-moving enforcement sweep. ICE made five arrests between 6 and 11 a.m. that same Tuesday, according to Faith in Action Bay Area, a nonprofit that tracks ICE activity and supports affected communities. According to NBC Bay Area, two of those arrests happened in East Palo Alto — one at a Chevron gas station and another on Woodland Avenue — while another occurred at 10 a.m. in the shared parking lot of a Dollar Tree and Home Depot in San Carlos, with two more arrests made in San Mateo at Chavez Supermarket and South Idaho Street.
The timing fed directly into students’ sense of urgency. San Mateo County has seen a spike in targeted ICE arrests in recent weeks, with activity reported in East Palo Alto, San Mateo, San Carlos and Half Moon Bay, the article notes. Faith in Action Bay Area said at least 16 people had been detained across the county in the 10 days leading up to the walkout, a tally that the M-A Chronicle separately reported as at least 16 residents detained over a nine-day stretch, with seven of those arrests described by the organization as targeted detentions since the prior Friday.
Students Describe Fear and Family History
For some students, the protest was personal. Bea, a senior at Sequoia High School, said her father and his family members were detained by ICE after immigrating to the United States from South Africa when he was her age. Nephertytie, a student organizer at Menlo-Atherton High School, said students advised peers who were themselves at risk of detention to stay home while others marched and spoke on their behalf…