More than 100 Lexington High School students marched out of school in the middle of the day on Monday to protest ICE activity in Massachusetts and the US more broadly. The protest was part of a larger movement of high school students organizing anti-ICE walkouts across the country.
Students marched from the high school to the Town Center and back, waving homemade signs and chanting slogans like “We want ICE out!” and “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA.” Passing cars honked their horns in support of the students.
The Town, school administration, and local police were all informed of the walkout in advance, and police officers were sent to follow the marchers and provide security. The event was promoted on an Instagram account created by student organizers Layla Farnham and Ayla Modirzadeh-March, both juniors.
“Seeing how marginalized communities were being targeted and the amount of fear in the immigrant community — myself, I’m not an immigrant, nor are my parents, but I could sense the fear,” Farnham told LexObserver.
“I’m half Iranian, my grandparents immigrated here right before the Revolution,” Modirzadeh-March said. “I’m so lucky that Iranians were able to immigrate here at that time.”
“The reason I am so passionate about this cause is because I’m acutely aware that we are all immigrants,” Modirzadeh-March added.
Students at the walkout said they hoped the demonstration would draw wider attention to immigration enforcement policies.
“I kind of figured that if something like this were to happen we wouldn’t see many people, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised,” said Adrian Chism, a senior at LHS.
“Me and my friend wanted to try to help make a difference, even if this is something small,” said Anaya Joshi, an LHS senior attending the walkout. “The goal is to get more people to know about it and find some way to fight against it,” Joshi said.