Hundreds of Chicago teens huddled in the cold February air in Lincoln Square on Monday to speak out against President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and to advocate for immigrant communities.
Students from several high schools, including Mather, Northside College Prep, Roosevelt, Amundsen and Von Steuben, walked out of school at around noon carrying flags from Mexico, the U.S. and other countries, calling for federal immigration officers to leave Chicago and other cities.
Mather students chanted “fuera ICE” — “ICE out” in Spanish — as they walked through snowy neighborhood streets toward River Park, ushered by approving car honks and cheers from neighbors, some of whom waved flags out of the windows of their homes as students marched by.
The students joined a growing chorus of voices demanding the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a cry that typically also includes other aspects of immigration enforcement that falls under the Department of Homeland Security. Others spoke about the contributions immigrants have made to Chicago and the country.
Similar protests took place in other states Monday, including in Indiana and Texas.
Angelique Guzman, a student at Mather, accused federal agents of violating the U.S. Constitution, saying they are targeting people based on the color of their skin. Last September, the Supreme Court cleared the way for immigration agents to use race and language as a factor in stopping and questioning people.
She said that’s why she still worries for her family, even though they have legal immigration status.
“They look Hispanic and they only speak Spanish, so they are a targeted demographic,” Guzman said. “If you are a minority, you are a target.”
Guzman also encouraged young people who are able to vote to get to the polls in the upcoming Congressional midterm elections.
“If there is any time in history when you should exercise your right to vote, it is now,” she said.
Krystal Portilla, a senior at Amundsen, said she had nightmares when she was 9 about Trump detaining her father, who was going through the process to obtain legal permanent residency during the president’s first term. That fear returned when federal immigration agents showed up in large numbers in Chicago last year.
“Now they were at our doors, our neighborhoods, my school,” said Portilla, 18, adding that she started to feel alone. But she’s been uplifted by support from her peers, and hopes more people will speak out.
“How do people look at the situation and think that it’s okay?” she said.