NJ students face discipline after walking out to protest ICE
Some New Jersey high school students who walked out of class to protest ICE operations will face detention for their activism as well as possible other disciplinary action.
North Plainfield High School students were told in a letter that those who disrupted classes without permission, left school grounds and created “a disruptive school environment” would face a three-hour detention on Saturday, according to NJ. com.
Local newspaper TAPinto reported that protests involving students at the school took place twice earlier this month, on February 3 and 6. This latest protest saw approximately 200 participants march through downtown Plainfield. More than 70 percent of North Plainfield High School’s 1,200 students are believed to be Hispanic.
In Highland Park, up to 40 students were initially told they would be suspended for protesting off school, students told NJ.com. However, the district superintendent later clarified that disciplinary action would be decided after a “thorough review of the circumstances.”
Students were reportedly allowed to participate in a walkout on campus, but several dozen protesters who left the scene could face consequences, officials said.
At least a dozen protests against the actions of ICE agents have taken place in Garden State schools so far this year, according to NJ.com
In New York, organizers encouraged ICE protesters to leave their jobs and classrooms in January to attend demonstrations at sites including Central Park, Washington Square Park, Prospect Park and Trump Tower in Midtown.
Those walkouts included a 15-year-old student from Brooklyn, who joined friends from the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School in Greenwich Village and Soho to attend the rallies.
“What bothers me is how horrible it is that he takes innocent people,” she said of President Trump and the federal agents carrying out his orders.
About 60 Kingston students walked out of their classrooms last week chanting, “No ICE, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
Students were asked over school loudspeakers to return to their sixth-grade classes, but none of the protesters appeared to adhere to the order, according to the Daily Freeman. The school principal reportedly said that 40 students had left the school, some of whom had no classes that afternoon.
