“I’m trying to defend my parent, who immigrated here to get me a better life,” said Lexi Resemdoz, a 16-year-old Benjamin Franklin High School student. “How will we hate when they don’t even know the real us?”
Samantha Fonseca, a 17-year-old student at Woodrow Wilson High School, said, “Immigrants are not criminals.”
Against the downtown cityscape, a sea of youths could be seen walking along the sidewalk on the Cesar Chavez Bridge, wearing backpacks draped in Mexican and Salvadorian flags. Signs were held up protesting against President Trump’s mass deportation policy. Trump’s deportation policies are as follows: threatened mass deportation of immigrants, and may use an expansion of the “expedited removal” program, and expedited removal programs allow the government to quickly deport someone they believe to be undocumented without seeing a judge. This could apply to anyone, including those who served in the military for this country.
Also, combined with raids in neighborhoods and workplaces using expedited removal, an immigration officer may quickly deport individuals without due process if the government establishes that they entered the United States without immigration documents and have been there for less than two years. People deported under expedited removal may be detained and deported without appearing before an immigration judge.
During Trump’s first week in office, President Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration and issued several edicts to carry out promises of mass deportation and border security. As a result, Ice can now go to schools, churches, or hospitals. Previously, these locations were restricted and considered “Sensitive zones.”
A wave of students attended a mixture of different high schools. These High School students were primarily from Roosevelt, Garfield, Felicitas, and Gonzalo Mendez.
Brain Benitez, a 17-year-old Roosevelt student who learned about “call to action” in Roosevelt High School, commented, “I have to be here. I have to represent.” Exclaiming it was essential to his own family.
After marching to city halls, thousands of protesters marched down to Olvera Street, standing tall and proud, screaming for a better life, and wanting to chase the American dream that is sought after.
For decades, youth-led actions have been integral to activism in L.A. They played a significant role in the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s, emboldening youth to advocate against social discrimination and unfairness within the public system. For example, in 1968, student-led marches and walkouts for Chicano rights became a significant touchpoint in the battle for equal Latino rights. Paula Crisostomo was 16 at Lincoln High School when she began having political discussions around change. Eventually, Crisostomo and other high school and college students joined the newly formed group called the Young Citizens for Community Action.
As Santiago students, we can perform peaceful walkouts to protest against Trump’s immigration policies. This isn’t a hypothetical call to action but a reminder of student rights and the power we, the people, hold. We have the right to fight for ourselves as U.S citizens.
