Why L.A. students walked out of school and protested mass deportations

For Lexi Resendiz, 16, a student at Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park, the walkout was a way of standing up for her family.

“I’m trying to defend my parents, who immigrated here to get me a better life,” she said. “How are people going to hate when they don’t even know the real us.”

For Samantha Fonseca, 17, who attends Woodrow Wilson High School in El Sereno, the protest was a way “to show that immigrants are not criminals.”

Hundreds of students walked out of their high schools Tuesday, part of a long Los Angeles tradition of student walkouts for civil and immigrant rights. 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 Salvadoran flags and holding signs protesting President Trump’s mass deportation policies.

Students from several high schools, including Roosevelt, Garfield, and Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, were among the young protesters who took to the streets.

Students waved the Mexican and Salvadoran flags during walkouts Tuesday.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Brian Benitez, 17, a student at Roosevelt, said he learned during Spanish class about the call to action. He said it was important to participate for his family. “I have to be here. I have to represent,” he said.

After marching to City Hall, where thousands of protesters assembled, the crowd moved to Olvera Street.

For decades now, youth-led actions have been an integral part of activism in L.A.. They played a major role in the Chicano movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, emboldening youths to advocate against social inequalities and discrimination within the public education system.

In 1968, student-led marches and walkouts for Chicano rights became a major touchpoint in the battle for Latino equal 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 Young Citizens for Community Action.

Students walked out of several high schools Tuesday and marched to Los Angeles City Hall.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

“This week, students have once again assumed the leadership to send a strong message that they, their families and their communities must be honored, respected and supported,” Crisostomo said.

As the teenagers gathered to show their support for immigrant communities, they also called out against deportations, displacement and family separation.

“It is really affecting our mental health,” said Roxana Gonzalez, 16, a student at Bravo Medical Magnet High School. “It’s a really stressful place to be right now.”

Playing a role in the walkouts meant, “Our voices are getting heard,” said Angel Garcia,16.

Bella Gomez, 16, who attends John Marshall High School in Los Feliz, organized the walkout on her campus with a friend, Johanna, 18, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her privacy. They wanted to join nearby schools and unite under common demands.

“I cry at night thinking that my dad won’t come home,” said Johanna, whose family is from El Salvador.

“As someone who comes from an immigrant family, I have a lot of issues with the [immigration] policy under the administration. I decided to do the walkout today at school to express that and show everyone here, all the kids from immigrants, that you can do it too.”

Later in the day, police issued a dispersal order, saying some students were throwing rocks and bottles at them, and one adult protester was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism. But several students stressed they were walking out in the spirit of peace, to represent their families and to make a difference.

As the protests began to dwindle, Fonseca, the Wilson High student, joined a dance circle, which she saw as a form of resistance. “Some of us stood back to dance and spread our culture,” she said.

Elizabeth Correa, 17, who also attends Wilson High, said migrants are an inextricable part of the country.

“This land is built on the exploitation of immigrants,” she said.

Gomez, the Marshall High student, said she viewed the day’s walkout as just the start.

“I definitely want to preface that this is a movement, not a moment. It’s not a trend, and it’s something that will keep going until we are protected by laws that protect our rights and basic human needs,” she said.

Wolfson is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles.