Students at San Luis High School organized a walkout Friday, and it turns out, that was just the beginning.
This Tuesday, students at five Yuma County high schools walked out of class to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, citing concerns over the agency's treatment of immigrants and U.S. citizens under the Trump administration.
Hundreds of students from Cibola, Gila Ridge, Kofa, Somerton and Yuma high schools took to the streets at roughly 11 a.m. and noon, carrying flags and handmade signs.
"I'm participating in today's walkout because I have a lot of friends whose families are immigrants and also because why wouldn't you, you know what I mean? If one person doesn't have rights, then nobody has rights. So I'm worried for not only my friends but like my teachers my family and myself," said Taryn, a student at Yuma High School.
KAWC dropped in on Yuma High's walkout, which extended from the campus down 4th Avenue and ended at 4th and 16th Street.
Many of the students who spoke with KAWC shared that they're very concerned for their loved ones and communities.
"I don't want to specifically say who, but yes, I have people who I worry about and during this tragic time, it scares me," said Alyssa Badachi, another student. "It scares me because I don't know what's going to happen."
William Nuñez and Iram Valdez expressed that they participated in the walkout as a means of supporting immigrants.
"I'm participating for all the people who come here to this country to earn their daily bread, and it's not just what the president or politics are doing with the people who don't do anything in this country," Iram shared in Spanish. "Yes, I do feel worried in part because this is my own people, we speak the same language and everything."
William added that he wanted to show support and bring back "animo" or spirit to Mexican folks and laborers.
As for why now, Lillie Dillon, another student, explained that what's happening at a national level is alarming from a historical perspective.
"This is the kind of stuff if you pay attention to history, this is the kind of stuff that happened before we started wars; we do not want that," she said. "I think this has been a problem for months, technically years, but I think this has just been a bigger problem in the past few months."
Nationwide, the most recent protests against ICE took place Friday. Students at San Luis High School had independently organized to participate in the national "ICE Out" protest. But Yuma's walkouts on Tuesday seem to have come about as a combined effort from various students creating their own campaigns on social media like those in San Luis did.
Alexis Rodriguez of Yuma County Indivisible shared that she came to Yuma High's walkout to provide solidarity and support after students reached out requesting it. Yuma County Indivisible has been holding biweekly protests, and she believes the success seen at San Luis High School on Friday has sparked an interest in students to act.
"Saturday we had a really good turnout on our—there was way more kids and they were just so full of enthusiasm and livelihood and I'm sure that that is something that pushed this on," she said.
All of the students from Tuesday's walkout are part of the Yuma Union High School District since it encompasses all but one of Yuma County's public high schools. YUHSD Chief Communications Officer Eric Patten confirmed that the district is not affiliated with the walkouts.
"Our expectation is that students remain engaged in learning throughout the school day. They are obviously not school-coordinated or YUHSD-affiliated walkouts that are occurring," he said. "At the same time we are respectful of individuals' constitutional rights, and so it's a balance between those two things, but for the most part we have continued about our school day and making sure that the students who remained on campus are engaged in learning as we do every day of the week throughout the school year."
He also confirmed that there were no special repercussions for students walking out. Rather, families were informed and students were marked absent.
The last time students at YUHSD walked out in a large-scale protest was in 2018 as part of the National School Walkout, which protested gun violence.
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Stay tuned to KAWC to hear more of what students at Yuma and Cibola high schools had to say.
This reporting is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
