Student Protests Continue

Hundreds of students across Orange County have been participating in walkouts recently to protest the Trump administration’s intensifying immigration enforcement efforts, including stepped up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) activity in Orange County. More are planned.

On Feb. 11, students at Los Alamitos High School in the Los Alamitos Unified School District are planning to leave campus during school and march to Los Alamitos City Hall.

Organizers started promoting the effort on social media last week, in posts that stressed that the protest will be peaceful and participants do not support any violence, vandalism, or hate. “This walkout is an act of love and support for our community, state, and all the people who are impacted by the I.C.E raids,” reads a post on the losal_walkout Instagram account. 

“We want our community and surrounding communities to know that there are students within Los Al who are against the actions of I.C.E. and do not support the violations of our human rights,” student organizer Amanda, a senior at LAHS, wrote in a text message to Spotlight Schools. She estimates 400 students will take part in the walkout. LAHS has about 3,000 students. Students were encouraged to have their parents submit notes in advance to excuse the absence for the walkout, citing California Education Code 48205 Section 12A which states an absence can be excused for a “pupil engaging in a civic or political event.”

“As a public school, we respect students’ rights to peacefully express their views. At the same time, our responsibility is to maintain a safe, orderly learning environment and ensure appropriate supervision for all students,” LAHS Principal Christiana Kraus wrote in a letter sent to families on Feb. 10. She strongly encouraged students to stay on campus and said that a designated area at school would be available for students who wanted to gather and express themselves peacefully. 

“Any decision to participate in a walkout is student-initiated and is not sponsored or endorsed by the school or district. Our focus remains on teaching, learning, and maintaining a safe environment for all students,” Kraus wrote. 

The protest at LAHS comes less than a week after students demonstrated in other local school districts. Around 100 students from Brea Olinda High School in the Brea Olinda Unified School District walked off their campus on Feb. 6, according to a report from the Brea Olinda Wildcat, the high school’s student newspaper.  

Students marched to Brea City Hall with signs that read “Don’t deport our Latina baddies,” and “Proud daughter of immigrants.” The Wildcat student journalists reported that BOUSD Superintendent Brinda Leon, the district’s spokesperson Melissa Serrato, and Brea Police Department officers observed the protest at the Brea Civic Center. “Our monitoring was solely to ensure that students were engaging in a safe and peaceful protest,” Serrato said.

“We’re not okay with I.C.E. coming in, taking families and not obeying the laws that we have in our Constitution,” ​​BOHS senior Isabella Luarca told the newspaper. “It’s scary to speak out but really we need to protect ourselves, our families, and in order to do that, we have to protect strangers, American citizens, that are being hurt as we speak.” The latter is a reference to the shooting deaths of two protesters who were U.S. citizens by federal law enforcement officers in Minnesota.

Protests have also been reported in the Irvine Unified School District, the Huntington Beach Union High School District, and the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. 

Student protester Kei, a junior at Sonora High School in the FJUHSD, said he participated in a walkout last month from his campus to La Habra City Hall. He said he has seen I.C.E. officers in La Habra. “I fear anytime I leave my home that [I] or someone I know will be wrongfully brutalized by I.C.E. based on only the color of our skin,” Kei wrote in an email to Spotlight Schools. “I know many people who have it worse than me though, some whose parents aren't yet legal and are struggling with the fear of them even going to work and never coming home.”

In the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, students from several schools including El Dorado High School also walked off campus on Feb. 6. A walkout at Yorba Linda High School is also being planned for Feb. 13, according to the yhls.ehs.walkout Instagram account.

The PYLUSD students also brought their message to the Feb. 10 PYLUSD Board of Education meeting, where the board was considering two agenda items regarding immigration enforcement. One was a revised policy regarding the response to immigration enforcement at campuses. The other was a resolution declaring district support for local and federal law enforcement.

Trustee Leandra Blades, a former law enforcement officer, introduced the resolution (Item 22.6 on the agenda) which read in part, “NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Placentia-Yorba Linda Board of Education affirms its support for local law enforcement officers and federal immigration officers who carry out their duties professionally and lawfully.” 

"We have teachers badmouthing them and calling them murderers so it’s mainly to support law enforcement and help the community know their role and why they would come to our campuses," Blades wrote in a message via Instagram.

More than 50 speakers addressed the board, including many students, who voiced concerns about the resolution fearing it was opening the door to I.C.E. raids at schools. A junior from El Dorado High School took to the podium during public comment and said, “I shouldn’t fear a federal agent ripping me away from my family in an environment where I’m supposed to gain an education.” The board ended up approving an amended version of the policy and the resolution that removed references to support for immigration officers, as reported by Voice of O.C.

El Dorado parent and PYLUSD teacher Tara Bloomquist said she does not agree with how the students are taking action. “I don't think walking out during school hours is productive. If school-age [children] want to walk in protest, they should do so on their own personal time,” Bloomquist wrote in an email to Spotlight Schools.

She added that she was skeptical of the student protests leading to change. “I think there are some concerns about how I.C.E. is carrying out its orders,” Bloomquist wrote, arguing the immigration system has long been flawed with policies supporting “open borders," and added, “But I view some walkouts like controlled tantrums, similar to rioting; they get noticed, but nothing effective results from the actions.”

For Kei at Sonora High School, he said he hopes the message of the walkouts is that students care. “I hope the community can understand we are doing this not as an excuse to miss school, because if this was just about missing school we could have walked to McDonald's rather than standing in the hot sun for hours. … We actually care for our community of La Habra.”

As of this story's publication, Spotlight Schools is not aware of any activity by federal immigration enforcement officers at an O.C. K-12 campus. K-12 Dive has been tracking incidents nationwide. California law now requires schools to notify parents if immigration enforcement officers are present at a school.

In a statement issued in September 2025, the Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “I.C.E. is not conducting enforcement operations at, or ‘raiding,’ schools. I.C.E. is not going to schools to make arrests of children. Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest."

Editor's Note: This article was updated on Feb. 11 to include more information from the Feb. 10 Placentia-Yorba Linda USD Board of Education meeting.