East Lansing High School Students Protest ICE With Walkout

Hundreds of East Lansing High School students walked out of class this afternoon to protest the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The walkout was led by Students for Political Action, a student club at the high school.

The demonstration came days after Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. 

Senior Quinn LaFaive, a leader of Students for Political Action, said the group formed to help students organize around issues they care about.

“We started [the club] mainly to try to organize the students of East Lansing into one voice that can get stuff done,” LaFaive said. “Anything that students at [ELHS] care about, which in this case is protesting against ICE and the fact that they killed a woman for no reason.

“We’ve done a couple of things, like a food drive and a clothing drive.”

LaFaive said the group had been discussing a protest against ICE, but plans for a walkout came together only after Good’s death.

“I could see that basically everybody at my school was upset about it,” he said. “I figured this was the perfect time to get all the students in East Lansing involved in something political.”

East Lansing Public Schools Superintendent Dori Leyko said the district supports student activism.

“This administration and Board of Education has always supported students using their voice to peacefully protest and encourage meaningful action,” Leyko said in a text message to ELi. “We partner with them to create a safe environment as they demonstrate their political activism. We are proud of our students.”

LaFaive said ICE’s actions have created fear in many communities.

“Brown people or Black people have to worry about being stopped and harassed for no reason, and it’s just scaring them,” he said. “I also think it’s further dividing the nation. For instance, the woman that got killed — some people, including myself, think that it was murder. Other people are defending it and saying that she was a domestic terrorist and trying to kill an ICE agent. It’s just further dividing the country.”

He said the walkout should be viewed as a starting point, not an endpoint.

“We need to keep doing more,” LaFaive said. “Everybody needs to protest. Everybody needs to send letters to our representatives.

“This protest won’t change anything by itself, but if everybody in East Lansing, everybody in Michigan, and everybody in the country starts speaking out, things will change for the better.”