Nearly 300 students from Lafayette, Marquette, and Parkway South high schools took part in walkouts early Friday afternoon to protest the aggressive tactics employed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
The Lafayette students, who numbered nearly 50, assembled around 1:30 p.m. and, holding signs and chanting loudly, marched 1.5 miles along Clayton Road, stopping just short of Strecker Road.
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Most passing motorists honked and waved in support as the students shouted a series of chants, including “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” and “hey, ho, ICE has got to go!”
Sophomore Zoe Law led marchers away from and back to the school. Law said taking part in the march was important so “everyone could see what we stand for” and because people needed to turn “against ICE and what they do.”
Fia Pavia-Haggel, a Lafayette freshman, said she took part in Friday’s protest because “ICE is blatantly unconstitutional. They are killing people in the streets.”
An estimated 200 students at Parkway South High School left class early and marched to the Manchester City Hall, where they assembled on the lawn facing the building. “Dozens” more walked out from Marquette High School, West Newsmagazine reported.
The marches took place without any reported incidents. Rumors had circulated beforehand of a pro-ICE “counter-protest” consisting of students supporting President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, but it did not materialize.
Friday’s marches occurred one week after 400 students walked out of Kirkwood High School and 1,000 more walked out of Webster Groves High School, along with thousands of other students nationwide. Those marches, in turn, took place after federal immigration agents shot to death protestors Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, triggering a national outcry against the Trump immigration crackdown.
That outcry has led Senate Democrats to hold up funding for the Department of Homeland Security while they work out a deal with Republicans to impose new restrictions on ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Among Democratic demands: barring immigration agents from entering private property without a judicial warrant; barring them from wearing masks; and prohibiting ICE and CBP operations from being conducted near schools, churches, child care facilities and polling places, as well as other reforms.
