More than 1,000 Sacramento high school students walk out of class to protest ICE
Hundreds arrived waving signs degrading immigration enforcement. Others were draped with the flags of their parents’ home countries. And others just came ready to stand together to calm the nerves of their first protest.
More than 1,000 students from across the Sacramento region walked out of their classrooms on Friday morning and trekked to the Capitol in protest of federal immigration enforcement.
Once there, they chanted slogans like “No border, no nations, stop the deportations” and held signs that read “Melt ICE” and “ICE is better crushed.” The student-led effort is part of a nationwide protest calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” following two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. The deaths have increased scrutiny over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Sacramento organizers, who began planning the demonstration on Tuesday, said the demonstration was to protest the “brutal oppression” of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump’s administration. They have called for the abolition of ICE.
“We are protesting the actions of ICE in our country,” student organizer Roma Orozco said Friday. “We’re protesting their violence and their terrorism against people like us, and we are making sure that the students are being very clear about their stances, and we are showing our country that we care, and we are not going to sit in silence.”
Students from Florin High School — part of the Elk Grove Unified School District — were the first to walk out of school. They left their classrooms around 9:30 a.m. to catch up with students at seven Sacramento City Unified School District schools who walked out an hour later.
The students crowded several Regional Transit light rail and bus lines stations before converging on the west steps of the California State Capitol. Some had to wait until nearly noon to board the train, said Flojaune Cofer, a candidate for Sacramento County Supervisor, who joined a group of students on the ride to the Capitol.
“This generation gets it and is leading the charge, and with that moral conviction that you always want to see,” Cofer said. “I feel fired up because they’re so fired up.”
Hundreds of McClatchy High School students marched to the 4th Ave/Wayne Hultgren Lightrail station. Trains were flooded with protesters from that school and others, with students squeezing their way into the small car. Waiting for a train to take them to the Capitol, they chanted “Shut it down!” and “ICE out now!”
For Andrew Tedrow, a ninth grader at McClatchy High School, his participation in the march is personal. He said his protest was not just immigrant rights but for his grandmother, who is an immigrant from Brazil.
“I don’t like ICE because after I’ve seen what they did to that dude in Minneapolis, it just made me mad, because that can happen to anybody,” Tedrow said.
Among the first students to arrive at the Capitol were a group of six from California Middle School in Land Park. Each had received their parents’ permission to leave class that day and, in some cases, even encouragement.
“My mom was like ‘I’m proud of you’,” said Lucy Buehler, who is 13.
Sylvia Borelli, 13, held a poster of Trump with a crown — a reference to the idea that he is ruling like a tyrant. She said Friday was her first protest, which led to some initial nerves.
“I don’t really know how it like works... But ICE is just wrong, and I want to speak out against it,” Borelli said.
As the crowd grew larger, students dispersed across the Capitol with separate demonstrations. While some held a moment of silence and sat on the lawns with their posters, others chanted slurs at immigration enforcement and blasted music.
One group gathered around some individuals who held microphones and helped set-up multiple speakers. They each had a turn at speaking to the crowd and shared stories of why they were compelled to speak out against immigration enforcement.
Mark Jhohann Cortes Niez, a native of the Philippines, read a speech he had titled “My Immigrant Dream.” He recalled his mother working together two jobs to provide for their family before the two immigrated to the “land of opportunity.”
“As I entered this land of freedom, I came to notice that it’s not so free,” said Niez, a 16-year-old at Luther Burbank High School. “To be growing and open my eyes, I see this country as a cage. These so-called aliens people say they are, are the same people who are like me. They walk the same steps as me. They dream the same dream me. They dream for nothing but the best for their family.”
Around noon, about half of the students at Capitol began marching to the John E. Moss Federal Building. The building, which is where ICE operates in Sacramento, has become a frequent location for protests in the last few months.
Upon arriving, students swarmed to the front of the building and shouted “Abolish ICE!” Others climbed to the top level of the parking garage and draped it Mexican and Guatemalan flags. One youth held a sign that said “Alex Pretti was a hero.”
Pretti was one of the two protesters shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents this month in Minneapolis.
“As a country, this is a horrible time for us,” said Elliot Guiraud, a junior at McClatchy High School, who carried an American flag. “I think everyone in our community is affected by this, because we fear ICE and do not want to become an authoritarian regime.”
In a written statement on Thursday, the Sacramento City Unified Board of Education expressed “unwavering support” for its students who planned to protest though clarified that the demonstrations were not an organized “districtwide event.”
“In these challenging times, it is more important than ever to make sure every voice is heard,” said Board of Education president Tara Jeane in the statement. “Our students and families should know that Sacramento City Unified stands solidly behind the safe exercise of First Amendment rights, as a fundamental component of education and life.”
Friday’s protest drew several community and political leaders including, Assemblymember Maggy Krell and Sacramento Councilmembers Mai Vang and Karina Talamantes.
Krell voiced gratitude and praise for the students, saying these actions are needed to vote out the current “oppressive regime.”
“You might be missing chemistry, but you are making history,” Krell yelled as the students cheered in response.
Sacramento resident Eben Drucker joined Friday’s protest with his two children ages 16 and 13. He had heard about the walkout from his high school daughter and felt driven to support the youth and community. It was also important for his middle school child to learn about how the younger generation can get involved, Drucker added.
“It’s been horrific,” Drucker said of Minneapolis. “This is not what America was based on or founded on.”
Drucker spent most of the protest smiling and watching from a few dozen feet away, while his oldest child shouted alongside her friends. He wanted to respect her space, while she made her voice heard.
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 11:33 AM.
