On Jan. 30, students from Aragon, San Mateo, Burlingame and Hillsdale high schools walked out at lunch to protest recent Immigration, Customs and Enforcement actions and to support immigrants at risk of deportation. They were accompanied by students from Borel and Abbott middle schools, The Nueva and Crystal Springs Uplands schools, the College of San Mateo and adults, totalling about 5,000 protestors. On the same day, students from the Sequoia High School District walked to Redwood City Hall and students in San Francisco walked out to Mission Dolores Park. Aragon students met at Central Court at the beginning of lunch, before walking to Central Park, where they met students from the other schools.
“[By] coming together as a unit and organizing this, we provided a stance out there to show that the youth — this new generation — wants change,” said senior and Aragon walkout organizer Lizet Nunez Camacho. “We won’t let this administration abuse their powers of authority over minorities.”
Before the school day began, Aragon teachers and staff members walked together from Woodland Drive into Aragon High School and their classrooms, carrying signs. Staffulty at all other SMUHSD schools held their own walk-ins.
“My personal reason for being out there is that I would want students to know that the adults on this campus are committed to keeping them safe and protected; that this is a place where you come to be educated,” said Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Carlo Corti. “[The demonstration] was a communication to the community and to our students that we are on their side.”
Information about the students’ protest circulated on social media from the Instagram account @ahs.walk0ut starting the week before, galvanizing other schools to join the walkout. During the week before the protest, @ahs.walk0ut also shared a story detailing how students should act peacefully during the walkout, as well as stating on their Instagram posts that the protest would be nonviolent. Clubs such as Samaritan House Aragon and Filipino Club hosted poster-making for the protest at lunch.
As well as working with other schools, the organizers worked with the San Mateo City Police Department, which had officers posted to block roads for students to cross the street as they marched to Central Park. Later, at Central Park, police patrolled the area and monitored the protest from the median on El Camino Real.
The walkout follows weeks of protests and unrest in Minnesota, heightened when Renee Good, who had just driven her son to school, was killed by an ICE agent. The agent said that her death was an act of self-defense, as she was going to drive into him. However, video evidence showed that she had been trying to steer away from the agent. After Good’s death, more deaths and deportations occurred.
“ICE’s recent actions are repulsive, vile and illegal,” said freshman Nishka Hari. “You can’t kill two U.S. citizens and say it’s self defense when they were disarmed. It’s not self defense. It’s murder. And detaining a 5-year-old. What is a 5-year-old going to do to harm this country? [ICE] can’t keep saying, ‘this is completely legal’ or ‘that 5 year old’s parents abandoned him.’ It’s repulsive that the Trump administration can say things like this [which are] completely false and untrue.”
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2025, ICE has ramped up its efforts to detain undocumented immigrants. As of January 2026, 73,000 people are in detention centers, according to the American Immigration Council — a 75% increase from the previous year.
“If you’re not upset with what we’re seeing, you’re not paying close enough attention,” said Hillsdale parent Andrea Savage, who was present at the protest. “These [immigrants who are being detained] are community members, parents [and] children. These are not violent criminals. There are improvements that we can make [to immigration], but [ICE’s method] is not the way.”
During the walkout, Aragon students marched from the school to Central Park on Aragon Boulevard, where they were met with applause, cheers and honks of support from neighbors. They were joined at Central Park by thousands of students and adults who brought signs or handed out water.
Many people who decided to take part in the walkout had personal ties.
“My dad’s [immigration] case recently got reopened and even though he did all the legal processing, [his immigration status is] being questioned,” said a junior. “He’s in a tough spot because he provides for us and has his whole life here. That’s why speaking [out] about it and people in our community supporting [immigrants] is very important.”
The protestors took up chants at Central Park, which they continued when they later moved to line both sides of El Camino Real.
Students were also joined by many of their teachers and counselors, who gave up a personal day to attend the walkout.
“It’s important to use our individual voices for the collective good, to fight what’s happening right now with immigration and our government,” said wellness counselor Eddie Perez. “I want to support the students that I have the privilege of seeing and working with every day.”
Though the aim of the protest was to be peaceful, there was one instance of violence. When a truck flying a “Trump/Vance” flag drove down El Camino, some protestors threw empty water bottles at it.
With the protest’s large turnout, far more attended than the organizers had expected.
“I’m from an immigrant household,” Nunez said. “You think that everyone’s against you … so seeing the amount of people that came out and didn’t go to their class or didn’t go to their job to come support this movement is heartwarming because you know that there’s people that support you … We know that we’re safe.”
