School walkouts on Long Island: Students are protesting ICE activity. Why one organizer says he spoke out.

When Riverhead High School student Oliver Earl spearheaded a school walkout last month, he joined a surge of youth activists opposing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

“ICE Melts Under Resistance" and "Seeking Safety is Not a Crime” read some of the handmade posters gripped by students on a cold mid-January afternoon. At one point, Earl pumped his fist in the air, denouncing the treatment of Latino immigrants and calling for a halt to the raids, some of which have stirred panic and confusion on Long Island, he recalled in a recent interview.

Surrounded by his peers at the rally on Jan. 16, he recalled telling them, “Is this not a country for my friends? They have liberty too.” 

Riverhead High School students are not the only young people calling for change. Walkouts at high schools across the country and on Long Island have ramped up in recent weeks, with students protesting the tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Demonstrations intensified following the killings by ICE agents of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, in Minneapolis. Thousands of students in states like Georgia, California and Arizona participated in “National Shutdown” day on Jan. 30.

Locally, walkouts have been held in Port Washington, Northport, Glen Head and Greenport.

  

Experts say youth protests are part of a longstanding tradition in the United States. Students have spoken out against issues ranging from racial discrimination to the Vietnam War to gun violence.

Robert Cohen, a history and social studies professor at New York University who has studied youth protest movements, believes the recent student walkouts will send a message that the public seeks change. 

"It's a sign that something has really penetrated deeply into society. I think that realization has been very important, and if it continues it could even multiply in terms of its impact,” he said.

He believes prolonged demonstrations can affect policy change, with polls showing waning approval of Trump's immigration enforcement campaign.

“In some cases, even in red states, parents have marched with students," Cohen said. "I think it's played a role in the turnaround.”

An ICE spokesperson said in a statement the agency supports peaceful assembly "but condemns the dangerous and unlawful actions that are obstructing federal operations and endangering the safety of everyone involved, including protesters, bystanders, detainees and law enforcement officers." The agency said ICE officers have experienced "a more than 1,300% increase in assaults" while they conduct arrests. 

'It made me very angry'

On Long Island, the fear of deportation has shaken households. Immigrant families have emergency plans ready. Some have officially given temporary legal custody for children in case they are rounded up by federal agents. Some are avoiding medical care, declining to attend church services or even shop at local delis, Newsday has reported.

ICE agents observed in Greenport resulted in one quarter of students staying home from school on a day earlier this month. For those who did attend classes, the district did not allow students to leave campus during the day. The Greenport school district is more than 65% Latino, according to the state Education Department.

Earl, whose mother is of Mexican descent, said he had become increasingly frustrated with aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. He said he was spurred to action after a friend walking to track practice was randomly stopped and questioned by a federal agent.

“He ended up being OK … but it was just a super close reminder that my friends could really be affected by this, and it made me very angry,” said Earl, 18.

Earl was joined at last month's walkout by about 100 students who left classes to protest ICE activity, district Superintendent Robert Hagan confirmed in a letter to parents. Hagan said students were told there would be repercussions for leaving, per the district’s student code of conduct, but it was unclear if students faced any consequences. Students were allowed to return to classes after the event, per the letter.

A Port Washington district spokesman confirmed students staged a walkout at Paul D. Schreiber High School on Feb. 2. In a letter sent to families, Principal Kati Behr noted the walkout lasted about 10 minutes and students then returned to class. Behr said the school's priority was "maintaining a safe, orderly environment."

A Feb. 4 demonstration outside North Shore High School in Glen Head lasted one hour, Superintendent Chris Zublionis said in a statement.

In a letter to parents he noted that students who cut class would be issued detentions but it's unclear if that occurred.  

"Our students are really good kids navigating complex times; they were respectful of the boundaries that we communicated to them and when finished, quickly got back to learning," Zublionis said.

Northport High School Principal Rob Dennis told families in a letter that while instructional time would be lost during a planned Feb. 6 walkout, students would not face any “disciplinary consequences solely for their participation." They would also not receive special accommodations for missing class.

“While the district does not sponsor or endorse walkouts, we respect students’ constitutional rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Dennis said.

Greenport schools Superintendent Beth Doyle did not respond to several requests for comment.

Students have also spoken up in support of ICE, according to walkout organizers and school officials. A few pro-ICE students attended the Riverhead demonstration, and there was a small group of counter-protesters at the Feb. 6 event in Northport. Students also staged a pro-ICE demonstration outside Northport High School on Feb. 13.

Legacy of youth activism

Philip Dalton, director of Hofstra University's Center for Civic Engagement, said through protest, students can learn about advocacy and policymaking. It also shows how invested they are, he said.

“Students are saying ... we're supposed to be in school but this issue is so important, we're going to upset the school day and we're going to go out and let the public know that we're young, we have voices too and collectively we're stronger,” Dalton said in a recent interview.

He added, "Many of these young people know people who are either afraid for themselves or a relative, or are afraid themselves that they may get picked up by ICE or just treated badly because they may stand up to protect somebody."

Cohen, the NYU professor, said it can be risky for high school students to participate in walkouts.

While some school officials on Long Island have expressed support for students' right to protest, the reaction elsewhere has been less positive. Students in Oklahoma and Virginia have been suspended for participating in walkouts and educators who encourage such demonstrations in Texas have been warned that they could be subject to sanctions, investigations and loss of funding. 

"That's one thing I find so impressive about these students who are doing these walkouts, because sometimes they're jeopardizing ... being punished by school administrators" or even government officials, Cohen said. 

“These are students standing up for their friends and neighbors,” he said.

Cohen said student activism is not new. Issues that have sparked student protests include civil rights, foreign policy and immigration issues.

In 1951, Barbara Rose Johns, then 16, led a student walkout to protest unequal education at a Virginia high school, according to the website of Jay Jones, attorney general of Virginia. 

This would later become one of the five civil rights cases reviewed in the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that found segregation in public schools violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause.

Another important movement took place in Los Angeles during the 1968 student walkouts, which involved mostly Mexican Americans or Chicanos protesting educational inequality. Students across the nation, including Cohen, also protested against the Vietnam War. 

In 2018, close to one million students staged walkouts across the nation calling for gun safety legislation, perhaps the largest student movement of this century, Cohen said.

For Earl, last month's walkout, he said, demonstrated that he no longer feels powerless. He said he hopes to connect with organizers at other schools in the future.

“I'm proud to be an American," he said, "but being proud to be American also means fighting for what you believe in and wanting to create the change that you want to see.”

Newsday's Darwin Yanes contributed to this report.