Students tired of the oppression of La Migra
Young people want ICE out of their neighborhoods and hundreds walk out of classrooms in Huntington Park to protest Trump's racism
No justice. No peace! No ICE in our streets! "No justice, no peace! ICE out of our streets!" “F*ck Trump!” were just some of the protest chants from hundreds of students who left their classrooms and marched from Linda Esperanza Marquez High School to Salt Lake Park in Huntington Park, where they expressed their weariness of the racism, discrimination, and oppression under the Trump administration. “We're fed up with them taking our families away,” said Andy Manuel, 18, a 12th-grade student. “Our parents came here [to the United States] not to be run over, but to find a better life.” Starting at 6631 Cottage Street and continuing for 2.2 miles, students from Linda Esperanza Marquez High School and the Diego Rivera Learning Complex Green Design STEAM Academy marched through the streets to take their protest to Huntington Park City Hall and Salt Lake Park. At the front of the contingent, they carried a powerful message: “The power of the people is greater than the people in power,” and signs that read “We are skipping our lessons to teach you one,” or “RID the cancer,” accompanied by a cartoon clown resembling Donald Trump. Shouting for justice and respect for their right to demonstrate publicly, the young people emphasized their commitment to raising their voices. “It's very important to know that today many young people have to leave their classes to fight and speak out for their families, friends, and neighbors because [Donald] Trump is a man who doesn't care about anyone,” declared Cristal Corona, a member of the organization Students Deserve. Corona affirmed that the people hold the power, and that is why the students are asking the federal government to stop deportations and the separation of families. “It's unfair that he's stealing happiness from families,” she added. “We can't take it anymore.”The solution is simple: more peace and less terror in our communities! That's all we want!
While Linda Esperanza Marquez High School in Huntington Park consists of three small schools, including Linda Esperanza Marquez High B (Libra Academy) and Linda Esperanza Marquez High C (School of Social Justice) – all on a single campus – most of the approximately 1,900 to 2,000 students were not allowed to leave their classes.Many of them watched the protest march from the windows.
It wasn't just Latino students who protested. Their African American classmates joined them.
Tempest Wright, a student at the Diego Rivera Learning Complex Green Design STEAM Academy, believes that now more than ever, unity between African American and Latino students is necessary to fight together against the historical and persistent injustices in the United States. "The United States was built on stolen land. It was never united. Before, it wasn't even a real country, until they stole our land," she said. "It's not even our land. So nobody is here to claim anything. The country belongs to all of us, not just one person, much less just one white man and one orange man." The protester noted that if she had the opportunity to stand face-to-face with Donald Trump and his associates—his advisor and the mastermind behind the mass deportations, Stephen Miller, the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, and the US Attorney, Pam Bondi—and speak to them about the treatment of immigrants, “I would tell them that what they are doing is bullshit.” "They are killing people, and I think: Is this justified? Isn't this segregation?" she asked. "They brought people from other nations to build their country. They built it for themselves. But none of the land in the United States belongs to them. The country belongs to everyone."
The students' safety was closely monitored by Huntington Park Councilwoman Nancy Marti, who, in her personal capacity, emphasized the students' civic engagement and the message they wished to send to the White House.
The young official addressed the importance of young people using their voices and rights to demand justice in the community, highlighting that many injustices affect their loved ones.
She mentioned the need to treat immigrants humanely and criticized policies and laws that cause economic, emotional, and physical suffering, and separate families.
“The students have every right to get involved and demand justice, because there are many injustices right now in the community where their parents, their aunts, uncles, or their grandparents live,” she said. “If there were a shred of humanity [in Trump, Miller, Noem, and Bondi], I would ask them to reflect on their conscience.”
He indicated that any policy and any law they are trying to implement has consequences because they are separating families and causing immense economic, emotional, and physical suffering to millions of human beings.
“The only thing I would ask of them, as I would of any other human being, is that they search their hearts and their consciences about how we want to treat humanity and our neighbors,” he emphasized.
“Fuck immigration! Long live the race!” “No human is illegal!” “No human being is illegal!” chanted the boisterous young people amidst the heavy traffic on East Florence Avenue and Salt Lake Park Avenue.
The students' march was peaceful, and they even asked the Huntington Park police to keep other young people away from their demonstration who were setting off fireworks.
“We are all human beings.” It is understandable that Edward Pena, a 17-year-old student at Diego Rivera Learning Complex Green Design STEAM Academy, is traumatized by the uncertainty of whether his parents could be deported at any moment.
Thick tears stream from his face because of the fear and suffering that immigrants experience “We are human. We all live. It doesn't matter where we come from. We bleed red, and in the end, God created us all with love. We are the image of God," says the boy, who participated in the high school student protest in the streets of Huntington Park.
Pena knows that, with his Participation is changing the history and the narrative that falsely accuses immigrants of being the cause of all of America's ills. "We want justice for all the immigrants who have our whole families here," he says. "We all matter; Immigrants make this country great," he affirms. "We also have lives, families that nothing has destroyed, and we need justice. I don't know why they fight against us just for the sake of fighting." The pain Edward carries in his soul stems from the fact that his father is a day laborer, a profession that is one of the main targets of attack by masked and violent immigration agents. "I'm scared every time my father goes to work, and my mother doesn't want to leave the house, not even to the market to do the shopping," reports Edward, who lives at his brother's house so as not to put his parents at risk when he goes to school. Edward wants to find peace, but he can't. He says his mother has cried a lot because she's afraid to go out and that, in fact, she already has a plan in case any of them are deported. “It breaks my heart that they've made a plan for the worst that could happen… I want to live… I want to sleep peacefully… We are all human beings and they treat us like animals,” she says, wiping away her tears. sporting people. We are all human beings. We all come from God. We are his children and his creation,” she repeated. “But they don't accept us… We are human beings, not animals, and we deserve to be treated with dignity.”A 17-year-old student at Diego Rivera Learning Complex Green Design STEAM Academy, is traumatized by the uncertainty of whether his parents could be deported at any moment.
Thick tears stream from his face because of the fear and suffering that immigrants experience. "We are human. We all live. It doesn't matter where we come from. We bleed red, and in the end, God created us all with love. We are the image of God," says the boy, who participated in the high school student protest in the streets of Huntington Park.
Pena knows that, with his Participation is changing the history and the narrative that falsely accuses immigrants of being the cause of all of America's ills. "We want justice for all the immigrants who have our whole families here," he says. "We all matter; immigrants make this country great," he affirms. "We also have lives, families that nothing has destroyed, and we need justice. I don't know why they fight against us just for the sake of fighting." The pain Edward carries in his soul stems from the fact that his father is a day laborer, a profession that is one of the main targets of attack by masked and violent immigration agents. "I'm scared every time my father goes to work, and my mother doesn't want to leave the house, not even to the market to do the shopping," reports Edward, who lives at his brother's house so as not to put his parents at risk when he goes to school. Edward wants to find peace, but he can't. He says his mother has cried a lot because she's afraid to go out and that, in fact, she already They have devised a plan in case any of them are deported. “It breaks my heart that they've made a plan for the worst that could happen… I want to live… I want to sleep peacefully… We are all human beings and they treat us like animals,” she says, wiping away her tears. "What I want most is for them to stop deporting people. We are all human beings. We all come from God. We are his children and his creation," she repeated. “But they don't accept us… We are human beings, not animals, and we deserve to be treated with dignity.”A 17-year-old student at Diego Rivera Learning Complex Green Design STEAM Academy, is traumatized by the uncertainty of whether his parents could be deported at any moment.
Thick tears stream from his face because of the fear and suffering that immigrants experience. "We are human. We all live. It doesn't matter where we come from. We bleed red, and in the end, God created us all with love. We are the image of God," says the boy, who participated in the high school student protest in the streets of Huntington Park.
Pena knows that, with his Participation is changing the history and the narrative that falsely accuses immigrants of being the cause of all of America's ills. "We want justice for all the immigrants who have our whole families here," he says. "We all matter; immigrants make this country great," he affirms. "We also have lives, families that nothing has destroyed, and we need justice. I don't know why they fight against us just for the sake of fighting." The pain Edward carries in his soul stems from the fact that his father is a day laborer, a profession that is one of the main targets of attack by masked and violent immigration agents. "I'm scared every time my father goes to work, and my mother doesn't want to leave the house, not even to the market to do the shopping," reports Edward, who lives at his brother's house so as not to put his parents at risk when he goes to school. Edward wants to find peace, but he can't. He says his mother has cried a lot because she's afraid to go out and that, in fact, she already They have devised a plan in case any of them are deported. “It breaks my heart that they've made a plan for the worst that could happen… I want to live… I want to sleep peacefully… We are all human beings and they treat us like animals,” she says, wiping away her tears. "What I want most is for them to stop deporting people. We are all human beings. We all come from God. We are his children and his creation," she repeated. “But they don't accept us… We are human beings, not animals, and we deserve to be treated with dignity.”"We want justice for all the immigrants who have our whole families here," he says. "We all matter; immigrants make this country great," he affirms. "We also have lives, families that nothing has destroyed, and we need justice. I don't know why they fight against us just for the sake of fighting." The pain Edward carries in his soul stems from the fact that his father is a day laborer, a profession that is one of the main targets of attack by masked and violent immigration agents. "I'm scared every time my father goes to work, and my mother doesn't want to leave the house, not even to the market to do the shopping," reports Edward, who lives at his brother's house so as not to put his parents at risk when he goes to school. Edward wants to find peace, but he can't. He says his mother has cried a lot because she's afraid to go out and that, in fact, she already They have devised a plan in case any of them are deported. “It breaks my heart that they've made a plan for the worst that could happen… I want to live… I want to sleep peacefully… We are all human beings and they treat us like animals,” she says, wiping away her tears. "What I want most is for them to stop deporting people. We are all human beings. We all come from God. We are his children and his creation," she repeated. “But they don't accept us… We are human beings, not animals, and we deserve to be treated with dignity.”"We want justice for all the immigrants who have our whole families here," he says. "We all matter; immigrants make this country great," he affirms. "We also have lives, families that nothing has destroyed, and we need justice. I don't know why they fight against us just for the sake of fighting." The pain Edward carries in his soul stems from the fact that his father is a day laborer, a profession that is one of the main targets of attack by masked and violent immigration agents. "I'm scared every time my father goes to work, and my mother doesn't want to leave the house, not even to the market to do the shopping," reports Edward, who lives at his brother's house so as not to put his parents at risk when he goes to school. Edward wants to find peace, but he can't. He says his mother has cried a lot because she's afraid to go out and that, in fact, she already They have devised a plan in case any of them are deported. “It breaks my heart that they've made a plan for the worst that could happen… I want to live… I want to sleep peacefully… We are all human beings and they treat us like animals,” she says, wiping away her tears. "What I want most is for them to stop deporting people. We are all human beings. We all come from God. We are his children and his creation," she repeated. “But they don't accept us… We are human beings, not animals, and we deserve to be treated with dignity.”