The morning of Friday, Feb. 6, Paulina Vargas and several of her high school classmates plan to leave school grounds to “protest what ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is doing to our communities.”
“I feel we as students, as youth should be taking a stance against ICE, because not only is it affecting the immigrants who are getting detained and separated from their families, but it’s also affecting our communities as a whole … by making many people afraid to go to school, afraid to go [out], to live normally, just because of their race and where they originate from,” explained Paulina, 15, a student at Robert Fulton College Preparatory School in Van Nuys.
This will be Paulina’s first anti-ICE school walkout and protest; it is the fourth – and is expected to be the largest – organized San Fernando Valley-wide walkout of local students in the past year.
Students from more than 40 high schools and a few middle schools are expected to walk out of class and march to different sites across the valley, including Van Nuys City Hall, Paxton Park in Pacoima, Mason Recreation Center in Chatsworth, the Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park, Noho Park in North Hollywood, to San Fernando City Hall and several other locations.
“Everyone will be spread out to send a bigger message, to show we are all across the valley – there are even [anti-ICE] supporters around the world – because these attacks by ICE aren’t just happening in one place, or in one city; they’re happening in multiple cities,” said Zaileen Piña, who launched the Valley Walkout Instagram page before their first walkout on Feb. 7, 2025.
Piña, a student of Birmingham Virtual Academy, and fellow walkout organizer Jazlyn Galdamez, a senior at Valor Academy High School in North Hills, said their previous walkouts have inspired others to do the same. Galdamez has heard from students from at least 10 other schools outside the valley, as far as Bakersfield, who are also planning anti-ICE walkouts on Feb. 6.
“What motivates me [to organize] is knowing that even … just one person can make a difference,” said Galdamez. “I believe that doing nothing and staying silent in the face of injustice is almost like cooperating with it.”
Their overall goal, said Piña, is to use their collective “voices to speak up for those who can’t.”
Jamie Ramirez, a junior at Reseda Charter High School, wholeheartedly agrees.
“I have the privilege of being born in this country and I have a voice, and I think it is so, so important to use it, and if you can do something to help [other people], do it – do not just sit there and be a bystander,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez said she believes it’s crucial to keep speaking out because ICE is becoming increasingly violent, with fatal consequences. The most recent reported deaths include Keith Porter Jr., who was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent in Northridge on New Year’s Eve, and Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were both shot to death in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“I try to think of a word that can fully describe the devastation that I feel about what’s happening, but there’s truly nothing to sum up how angry I feel. … They’re killing people!” stated Ramirez emphatically. “I’m also angry that more people aren’t angry about this.”
She said the administration’s claim that they’re deporting people to make the country safer is a fallacy.
“It’s so devastating to see my people, the Latino community – such a beautiful community – being ripped away from their families. How is that protecting the streets?” asked Ramirez, adding that deporting people to countries “they’re not even from” isn’t protecting anyone.
Galdamez, who had an uncle who was deported last year, said she and her friends are living in fear that more of their relatives will suddenly be gone. And it’s happening far too often, she said.
“The majority of my family is undocumented, so it really does scare me, and it’s like that for the majority of my community,” said Galdamez. “I have friends that have sadly come home to the news that their mom isn’t there. In December, I had a friend who went home and realized that her dad had been taken. … Seeing it directly impact my friends like that is truly heartbreaking.”
To make matters worse, she added, “They’re not even listening to people who are saying they have their documents – they’re not checking for documents; they’re just racially profiling.”
For Piña, her grandmother’s words encourage her not to lose hope and keep organizing.
“My grandma, [who is] undocumented, says she’s [so] proud of me and thankful,” said Piña. “She tells me, ‘I can’t go out there to do that, so I’m glad you’re out there speaking for me.’”