I was engulfed by my loud, breathy peers in the cafeteria. We walked out, into the cold chants of student showrunners. West’s Titans; Uggs and Adidas sloshing forward, even if it hurt their attendance record.
“F- – – I.C.E.!”
I hear this instantly.
Lineleaders, such as junior Estelle Young, blared their remarks loudspeaker-style. Permutations of “Our U.S.A.…” alongside “No KKK,” or the more direct “Get I.C.E. out!” multiplied and mutated.
I read signs: “Melt ICE,” “WE WON’T TOLERATE FASCISTS.” Others also read: “THEY Make Mistakes -Donald Trump,” “I SUPPORT ICE,” “Trump 2026,” “I STAND WITH I.C.E — FAFO — MAGA.”*
I was honestly skeptical of the plans for Friday when my friend, Patrick Milne, forwarded me an infographic for the protest the Monday before. Cynical as I may be, it kind of seemed an excuse for heckling: proven right when I saw one student display a sign reading “SAVE the big Booty Latinas PLEASE!” Or, to skip class slothenly— opportunism famously explored by novel “The Hate U Give.”
“I’m really excited to be here with all my favorite people, but I’m also a little bit upset about I.C.E. actions. For example, they’ve deported citizens of the U.S., and, most notably, they’ve murdered innocent people that were simply trying to help a friend that was attacked by I.C.E.,” freshman Rosalie O’Brien said.
Students, including O’Brien, have entered a campaign of anti-ICE pins, made with bottlecaps, safety pins, and paper—more current commentary to add to the overall sentiments.
“[I.C.E. is] there for a reason, but they do things that are messed up. They have power. The power is going to their heads. You understand? Alex Pretti, he got shot for no reason,” freshman Ben McCarren said.
I heard statements for and against I.C.E. and conversations about a decade of Trump and MAGA’s ardent Gefühlspolitik retrospective also elicited strong feelings.
“My first emotion would probably be grief. I’d say, for the monstrosities that American citizens and immigrants have suffered. Sadness. Anger, a multitude of things,” sophomore Luka Dumon said.
I noticed a subject—the late Renee Good and Alex Pretti—central to a release of angsty energy amongst an informed and concerned group of students.
“I feel very inspired right now. I feel like in this day and age, a lot of things make me very not proud to be American, but right now I feel we’re all exercising our American rights out here. We’re standing up for what we believe, and we’re standing up for what’s right. I would say America’s still a great country. I still believe that our original ideals can be achieved. I just think it’s gonna take a lot of people that need to stand up. ‘Stay hopeful’ would be my overall message,” Dumon said.
As I interviewed, counterprotestor’s snowballs and shouts frictioned with the political insight of senior Adam Ranieri; screams obscured a scratchy microphone doing its best to convey senior Sofia Hoag’s message on the immigrant experience.
“Stay informed, stay safe. We have a world of unlawful murder, and unlawful misfrontation exists. So, stay informed. Stay active, stay aware, and keep fighting. And most importantly, no matter how bad it seems, it’s gonna get better, like it always does. We don’t know when, but it will get better,” O’Brien said.
Walking back I rendezvoused once more with those involved. We spoke of the national trajectory,conservatism, progressivism, journalism, my scapular necklace from New Mexico—Mary behind for peace, St. Michael upon my clavicle for protection, “against the wickedness and snares of the devil,” or so goes the old prayer.
The two mythic figures seemed relevant. Relevant that I remember my freshman year’s patron saint, enemy of “all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world, seeking the ruin of souls.” Is that not what we—including an indelicate and slapped-together Bruce Springsteen song released the same day—protest?
I want to avoid contrasting Biblical figures to a polarizing and variably professional I.C.E., Trump, and well meaning yet inactive Americans cumbered by factors out of their control. Yet I cannot help but observe a conception of positive cooperativism against what is dubbed by those against I.C.E. as ignorance of a quarter-millenia of constitutional legislation—i.e. Hypocritical manipulation of Pretti’s Second Amendment rights** most recently—all by a once-and-future businessman in his now half demolished “People’s House.”
Concluding the protest, however, all of this trivia felt alien. One synopsis impresses me:
“This protest is what our Constitution stands for,” Dumon said, his hair catching snow. “[Today] is a perfect example of American morale.”
Dubbed simply “the Walkout,” or “the Ice-out,” the sixth hour of January 30 bore witness to an unprecedented yet unrecorded turnout.
*“F.A.F.O.” commonly refers to “F – – – around and find out.”
**The NRA (National Rifle Association) condemns restrictions upon legal gun use, as per Pretti’s case. FBI director Kash Patel, alongside the Trump administration, insist Pretti acted poorly and his death a logical reaction by I.C.E. officers. An official ruling has yet to be declared.
