Editor’s Note: On Friday, Jan. 30, tens of thousands of U.S. high school students – including hundreds from across the greater Sacramento area – participated in walkouts and demonstrations as part of a “National Shutdown” or “No Work, No School” day of action, protesting against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. Several SacSchoolBeat.com student reporters were present for protests on and near their campuses. This is their report.
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Franklin High School students left campus before the last period of the day and walked to The Ridge shopping Center in Elk Grove. The event, which was planned the previous day, was promoted with social media posts, flyers around campus and by word of mouth, and at least 1,000 students showed up, many with posters.
Students who participated received an unexcused absence. Six students – Ella Wong, Khloe Ribardiere, Malia Manfredi, Charity Duong, Robi Simon and Caylee Tran – were the primary organizers of the protest.
“I feel like this is the greatest thing I’ve ever been a part of, and I’m so proud and happy for our school,” said Wong, a Franklin junior. “I’m glad that everyone was able to come together to work. It’s a fight to make a change.”
Ribardiere, also a junior, said she is hopeful her activism, and that of others, will lead to change.
“With what happened with Japanese concentration camps and everything that’s happened in this whole country over the years, I feel like we need to make a change right now, and this is how we do it,” Ribardiere said. “Our school is doing a great job.”
Fellow junior Manfredi said she was pleased with the turnout for the protest.
“We’ve got a crowd of probably hundreds of people here, which was organized in just one day,” she said. “It shows what a difference it can make when you post and you speak out. Speaking out against this, it doesn’t ruin your aesthetic on social media. It’s important for the youth of America to speak out of what’s going on right now and then.”
Tran, a Franklin junior who helped create graphics to gain more attention to the school protest, said the protest helped her feel united with her community.
“It’s really inspiring to see everybody come out here and actually try and make a change,” Tran said. “Getting to be a part of this and to organize this, it’s absolutely unreal. Seeing this and being able to make a change for my country is absolutely insane. It’s … unreal.”
Another junior, Simon, took part in helping create and distribute posters to those who weren’t able to make one in time.
“I’m tearing up and feeling really emotional about how everybody has shown up and took time out of their day to be here in support of their community,” Simon said
Senior Elijah Custodio said he is honored to be young and still find ways to speak up about this serious topic. He held up a sign that said: “The ‘C’ in ICE stands for chud.”
“It feels surreal being at such a young age and being able to represent my ideals and stand up (against) what I see as injustice,” Custodio said.
The Franklin protestors met up with adult protestors who are part of a local chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots organization that protests against policies of the administration of President Donald Trump. Indivisible’s Dave Parker said he is pleased to see more youth involvement.
Parker said one of Indivisible’s goals is to get 3.5 percent of the total U.S. voting population involved in protests against the Trump Administration.
“Meeting up with all these youth students, I’m so delighted to see you guys out here,” Parker said. “It’s beautiful.”
Elk Grove City Council member Sergio Robles watched the Franklin student protests.
“I am so proud of our generation of young people who are eventually going to end up being adults, and they’re going to be able to make a difference in the elections to come,” Robles said. “It’s awesome to see them being able to protest and stand up for what even some adults are having a hard time doing.”
Pleasant Grove High
At Pleasant Grove High School, the walkout happened after school on Friday. About 50 students gathered near the school’s front gate at 4 p.m. and marched until 6:30 p.m. along Waterman and Bond roads.
The students carried signs and chanted “love, not hate, makes America great” in protest of recent ICE activities, especially the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
The march included many students bringing their personal motivation to the walk with different slogans. Addy Velasco, a Pleasant Grove senior, held a slogan that read “Jesus was an immigrant and refugee too.”
“For me, this whole thing isn’t really like a red versus blue issue,” Velasco said. “It’s just a matter of basic human rights.”
Velasco said the students encountered a few thumbs down and negative reactions, but the students remained peaceful and the group even grew in size as the students continued walking. They also described the safe environment throughout the walkout supported by the assistance from four parents and student drivers.
“There were these two guys who joined us on our walk and handed out water bottles,” Velasco said. “The people who were driving the cars, they also let students put their backpacks in the car so that way they didn’t have to carry it when they walked.”
Although the PGHS walkout was on a smaller scale than the other walkouts that happened near the California State Capitol, Cush Wrignt, a PGHS senior, emphasized the unity of the event.
“We might not have all had the same reasons for being there, but we all understood why we were there,” Wright said. “Our compassion all drove us to stand together and walk in solidarity.”
–JiSoo Park
West Campus High
At 10:31 a.m., students at West Campus High School left their classrooms and assembled in front of the school before traveling to the Capitol to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity as well as the fatal ICE shootings in Minnesota.
WCHS students walked to Stockton and 20th Avenue to take the SacRT Route 51 bus downtown. After being dropped off at 8th Street, students marched towards the Capitol holding signs and chanting slogans like “No freedom, no peace, get ICE off our streets.”
One of the main concerns during the student-led effort was safety. West Campus junior Owen Naqica helped get WCHS students to and from the Capitol. While serving as a liaison to other bus leads, Naqica was grateful for the adults who helped ensure security for student protestors.
“It was great to see adult leaders and elected officials there to support us,” Naqica said. “Our route was very unique – ours was 100% bus while many others were light rail, so we needed those adults to be on the bus to help with safety.”
Despite difficulties with organization and coordination, Naqica said that student participants were empowered by a sense of community that came together to voice their solidarity.
“Even though we had many setbacks, this still happened, and I’m very proud of what we did,” Naqica said. “Instead of reformalizing, the suppressive system needs to be knocked down. We were sending the message that the youth need ICE abolished, and that’s what we did today.”
–Vivian Lim
John F. Kennedy High
Students at Kennedy High School walked out of school to protest at the Capitol at 10:45 a.m., 10 minutes after second period.
Another protest against ICE was scheduled the same day during lunch near the auditorium. This gathering included staff members standing in solidarity with the students downtown.
This is the second time some teachers were involved in on-campus protests. The first was the “Everything Protest” which happened in October 2025. Elizabeth Johnson, who teaches Advanced Placement U.S. History at Kennedy, said her reason for being at the protest was to encourage a safe environment for her students.
“I’m here in solidarity with my students here at Kennedy and to ensure everyone feels welcomed,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, I am not allowed to attend the walkout because I have a class to teach. Instead, I’m here to do my part civically (on campus).”
Government and U.S. History teacher Damien Harmony also came to stand in solidarity at the lunch protest.
“The way (ICE agents are) carrying out their goals is extremely excessive and proto-fascist,” Harmony said.
According to the Kennedy High attendance office, nearly half of students were absent during the time of the protest.
–Malik Shim
