Photo Gallery: Walter Johnson High School Anti-ICE Walkout

A large crowd of students at Walter Johnson High School walked out of class and gathered in front of the school building on Jan. 25 to protest the recent actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

As they marched along the front of the school, students brandished a wide variety of homemade signs and banners.

Some denounced ICE, calling for its abolition or criticizing its use of violence and terror against immigrants; others expressed solidarity with immigrants who had been victimized by the agency, carrying slogans such as “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land” or being partially written in Spanish. One student proudly draped a Mexican flag across his back as a cape.

Upon reaching the end of the building, they formed a circle in which several individuals had been selected to give speeches.

The speakers, a group of student government officials, activists and club leaders, stood on top of a table as they addressed the crowd.

Many drew from their own personal experience living under the threat of ICE, or the experiences of their friends and family members. 

Each speaker revitalized the energy of the protest, sparking chants and shouts of approval from those in attendance.

Some students rode on their friends’ shoulders or stood on the brick wall surrounding the table to get a better view.

The walkout comes in the wake of the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer, as well as ICE’s ongoing mass raiding and deportation operations across the country. Although no WJ students have been deported or detained, ICE has been sighted at several locations in Montgomery County over the past year.

WJ was not the first school to protest ICE’s actions. Three days before, the students of Whitman had walked out of class in a similar fashion. At a time of remarkable fear and uncertainty, across Montgomery County, students are making their voices heard.

Multimedia curation and photos courtesy of Jay Resnik