On December 8th, 2025, hundreds of students in Beaverton School District (BSD) rose from their seats in class and walked out of school into the pouring rain. This was the first of many walkouts organized by students in the Portland area, all protesting the same thing: ICE.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity has been increasing ever since President Donald Trump came into office, and students in Portland are not having it. BSD, McDaniel, Hillsboro, Lincoln, Parkrose, and even some middle schools all organized walkouts in protest of ICE. A message was sent out by BSD stating that while they recognized the student’s right to protest peacefully, all students participating in the walkout would be marked absent. But looking at the number of students outside the school that day, it seemed like they didn’t really care.
Abby Griffin, an English teacher at Ida B. Wells High School (IBW), says she participated in a walkout protesting the war in Iraq when she attended IBW.
“A walkout [felt] like a very meaningful demonstration… and [was] more important than my education,” she said, talking about what was going on in her mind when she was an IBW student in 2008, “That’s why I went, because it felt like I needed to do something,”
There have been walkouts at IBW in previous years, protesting things like racism and climate change. Griffin believes that students participate in walkouts because they want to be a part of something important when they feel like everything is going wrong. “You’re given an opportunity to do something or say something about it,” said Griffin, “You want to be a part of that.”
On January 7th in Minnesota, ICE fatally shot Renee Good, a white woman, in the head. She was in her car after dropping her 6-year-old kid off at school when she came across the ICE agents. She was confirmed dead later that morning after being rushed in an ambulance by paramedics. According to Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, Good was trying to weaponize her vehicle to run over an Officer.
Then, the next day, ICE agents shot two Venezuelan people, Luis David Nino-Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zombrano-Conteras, in Portland. Court records show that ICE officers tried to pull them over. They allegedly tried to escape and one officer fired into their truck, injuring both. They were hospitalized and shortly after taken into federal custody.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating these incidents, even though they are actively being caused by federal agents themselves.
According to the American Immigration Council, the number of people being held in ICE detention centers has risen by 75% in one year.
“Because of these things, a lot of people in our communities and people I know personally are afraid to leave their homes,” says Freshman Class President, Tasnim Kalifa. “Everyone is nervous, even citizens are nervous, because like everything that’s been happening in Portland, and Minnesota, across the country, even to American Citizens.”
Kalifa says she feels empowered and hopeful seeing the walkouts happening in the Portland area.”
“No one is really feeling 100% safe, but I do think it’s really beautiful the way that a lot of people and communities have come together to support each other through this,” says Kalifa. “I was very proud of everyone across PPS, people who organized walkouts and people our age wanting to take a stand about things that might not even personally affect them, but they still want to stand up for people in their community.”
Ainsley Porter, the Associated Student Body (ASB) president at IBW, saw the Hillsboro walkout. “It was super impactful because I believe it was led by a student whose parents were taken by ICE.” Porter feels that ICE definitely affects IBW. “We do have a large white population at our school, but that doesn’t mean the activity doesn’t affect us. I think a lot of families are living in fear of being taken by ICE or being split up.”
IBW’s population is about 70% white,(https://www.usnews.com) but students showed their support by walking out on Jan. 20th for the nationwide ‘Free America’ walkout. The ‘Free America’ walkout encouraged people to walk out of school and work. This was encouraged by students of IBW, as well as several other schools in Portland who advertised and participated in this walkout, resulting in hundreds of students gathering in Pioneer Courthouse Square. The route included protesting outside of the Multnomah County Justice Center and City Hall. Chants like “F**k ICE” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” were heard through the streets of downtown Portland.
“Anything done by the federal government to compromise anyone’s rights is a threat to us all,” says Griffin. She says she is reminded of the poem “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Written by a German pastor in 1946, the poem was a post war guilt confession. It describes standing to the side when someone unlike you is being targeted, and eventually being targeted yourself and having no one to stand by your side. (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org)
