Over 50 students at Plymouth, Canton and Salem high schools walked out of class on Wednesday, March 25, to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement in their communities, their second walkout this year.
Students on the campus of Plymouth-Canton Educational Park, which houses the three high schools, walked around a small bus loop between the schools, holding signs and chanting for about 45 minutes during their homeroom Wednesday morning.
Vinny Howes, a senior at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park, said that as a child of immigrants, they organized the protest to show support for their immigrant classmates and community members.
“My main purpose for doing this … is (to) show support for others in our community. We are on your side. We understand, and we see you and what is going on in the country, and we know it’s not OK. We just want others to know that we support them.”
Howes said the protest is also in part to ask the school board and leadership to release a statement in support of immigrant students and their families after seeing statements from other nearby school districts, including Ypsilanti and Detroit, that address the potential of ICE on school grounds.
Plymouth High School senior Zoey Hall also helped organize the protests. Hall said the first protest came with the momentum of national protests and walkouts after Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by ICE agents. Ahead of Wednesday’s protest, Hall said she hopes the second protest builds on the momentum.
“It’s also important for other students to recognize that we have power, that we are able to organize,” Hall said.
In February, the schools at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park were among dozens of schools where students organized walkouts in metro Detroit and Michigan. The first Plymouth Canton protest took place on Feb. 4.
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools leadership did not immediately respond to a Free Press request for comment.
Contact Natalie Davies at ndavies@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Plymouth-Canton students walk out to oppose ICE for 2nd time this year
Reporting by Natalie Davies, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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