Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti students protest ICE presence in Michigan

In a powerful demonstration of solidarity, students from several high schools in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti staged walkouts on Wednesday to express their opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Michigan neighborhoods.

Braving the cold with temperatures barely reaching the 20s, these students marched from Kerrytown to a federal building nearby. Their voices echoed with chants of “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” while they carried signs stating, “Immigrants built America.”

Mia Fletcher, a student attending Community High School, expressed her views: “Fundamentally, I think everyone has a right to feel safe where they live, whether or not they’re documented, whether or not they came here quote-unquote legally,” she stated. “We’re all human beings and we should all feel safe where we live, and the fact that that isn’t happening and the fact that people are being taken out of their homes is unacceptable to me.”

ICE has asserted its legal prerogative to arrest individuals at their residences without a warrant, particularly under the belief that these individuals are unlawfully present in the country and may flee before a warrant can be obtained.

“I think it’s really important that we all get out here, that we all know what’s happening because the next people that are going to be running this world is us,” Fletcher added, highlighting the significance of youth involvement.

Rosie Meisler, another student at Community High School, emphasized the importance of the movement: “Everyone should be welcome in a country that was built on immigration and that immigrants really make what it is,” Meisler remarked. “I hope people notice that if even the high schoolers are organizing and acting, then maybe it’s time for us to as well.”

During the protest, Meisler urged peers to contact their representatives and engage in further demonstrations. “Never be satisfied with an unkind or unfair world,” Meisler encouraged.

Students from Skyline, Pioneer, and Huron high schools in Ann Arbor, along with Lincoln High School in Ypsilanti, also participated in the walkouts.

Jeff Gaynor, a retired Ann Arbor public school teacher, lauded the students’ activism. “We need everybody, young and old, coming together to protest the lack of civil rights, of human rights, the abuses that are happening now,” he stated.

“ICE is doing horrible things around the country, the attentions in Minnesota, but they’re in our communities here,” Gaynor continued. “They were picking up parents in Ypsilanti. They picked up workers here in Ann Arbor.”

Gaynor concluded, “This is our common humanity that we all have to fight for.”

The Trump administration has said its immigration enforcement tactics are making the country safer.