High school students walk out for immigrants

OOn February 7, a buzz of revelry and waves of cheers could be heard on the approach to Pasadena City Hall. Tourists stood at the end of the block snapping photos while city workers meandered on their breaks. On the steps were gathered a mass of excited teenagers waving Mexican and U.S. flags, tooting small plastic horns, and holding hand-made signs with slogans such as “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land” and “Don’t Bite the Hands That Feed You.” The air was electric as students danced in front of the steps of City Hall in celebration of their Latin American heritage despite that heritage being targeted by Trump’s attack on immigrants.

Police stood away from the students at the ends of the cross streets connecting to city hall. They watched from afar behind the city’s striped orange barricades blocking incoming traffic. 

The planning for this event began on February 3, when the first post on the blair_walkout2025 Instagram account was published. The post announced that the owner of the account and a group of students would be walking out on Wednesday, February 5 , writing “The injustice of our people: Yo soy de color y nunca voy a olvidard,” which translates to, “I am colored and I will never forget.” 

In an interview conducted by Tempest members Promise Li and Kai B, a student organizer shares how these walkouts started: 

Well, we first heard about [the protests] in LA, that they were protesting and there was a day that immigrants weren’t going to work and they wanted to show how much they actually affected our land and our economy and our state, so we just wanted to share that pride around, spread awareness .

My friend created the blair_walkout2025 account, and then the rest of the PUSD (Pasadena Unified School District) schools discovered this account, and they also made theirs. So that’s kind of how we all joined it.

We initially didn’t know the other people but we came to get to know each other through these accounts we made and they started a group chat and were like, “Guys, let’s walk out at this time and meet here. Peaceful protest.”

We passed the word. Our school’s super small so I [know almost] all the students from grade nine to twelve, so I just told them, “Yo, we’re gonna peaceful[ly] protest [at] city hall. You guys can come if you want.”

At one in the afternoon, Blair High School students arrived at Pasadena City Hall. A worker with Blair High School marshalled the march to make sure nothing went amiss. An interview with the worker by Peter Ross with WorkWeek Radio gives their perspective on the situation:

A lot of these students from Blair organized the protest in solidarity with immigrants, in solidarity with folks who are undocumented who are scared of this new president who is spouting hate and state terror.

The students are learning about the history of civil rights, about the history of nonviolence, the history of civil disobedience to direct action and protecting their community.

A lot of these kids were chanting, “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go,” so obviously these kids are well versed in the fact that the same apparatus of oppression is happening in Palestine—in Gaza—is also happening in the United States with Latinx migrants, any kind of immigrants, they see that connection of oppression.

They’re scared, as they should be, but they’re here in solidarity with Latinx immigrants, with just any immigrant who comes here escaping from war, from genocide, from climate change caused by the ruling class.

Pasadena High School students also arrived after having marched for an hour and a half—almost four miles.

At two p.m., John Muir High School started their walk out as Marshall Fundamental Secondary School arrived, having marched for an hour. 

As the schools arrived, they were each met with cheers and welcomed by students from other schools in solidarity. Friends from different schools embraced as they joined the masses in front of city hall. 

At the time of the rally, students at Blair were not experiencing pushback from their teachers or from the school’s administration. A student organizer from Blair shared her experiences with staff: 

I think we have a couple of teachers and counselors here with us. My teacher, she’s so funny, she was like, “I support your protest, but I’m not gonna stop teaching so if you miss class, you miss class.” 

At three p.m., John Muir High School arrived, having marched for almost an hour. Adults greeted them shouting, “Go Mustangs!” Not long after the first wave, a second wave of students from John Muir added to the growing numbers. 

As they danced and sang, they chanted, “No ICE, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” When asked about next steps, the worker from Blair High School stated: 

It’s to keep mobilizing, keep learning, [keep] each other safe as well. Keep looking out for one another, [keep] taking care of each other. … to really be in this fight for the long haul. 

I do know that they’re not going anywhere, they’re not going to stop, they’re not going to rest until immigrants are left alone in the United States. 

As the rally continued, various indigenous dancing groups joined the students, eventually opening up the dancing circle into the street in front of the steps. 

At one point, a right-wing agitator approached the group in what was described as clothing inappropriate to be wearing around teenage girls. The same Blair worker from above had this to say about the agitator: 

He started saying things that are uncomfortable, that are making the high school students uncomfortable, so my friend and I came in and started, y’know, deescalating but also started telling the Trumper to please go away. That these students are here peacefully, that they are minors, that you shouldn’t be harassing them or physically attacking them. 

And y‘know, he and I went back at it—back and forth—and then he eventually left but he was clearly there to instigate and agitate peaceful student protesters. 

Later, while some students left from either exhaustion or because of responsibilities in the evening, the remaining protestors marched on to Pasadena City College.

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