Revolutionary Students Mobilize Across the Country Against ICE Terror

Read our feature article on combating and resisting ICE terror here.

We compile a report of the mobilization of revolutionary students across the U.S. against the terror campaigns of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and in defense of foreign-born workers. The efforts of the Trump administration and ICE to carry out mass deportations, targeting the deepest and most profound sections of the working class, have sparked large-scale rebellions throughout the country, including protests, strike activity, and acts of sabotage against ICE operations.

In response to this courageous popular resistance, federal agents murdered two anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis and have carried out increasingly violent abductions in the city, further igniting the fury of the masses. In the face of this campaign of white terror, revolutionary activists mobilized thousands of students across several cities in a series of school walkouts, marches, and demonstrations.

In Seattle, WA, around 100 students from Rainier Beach High School walked out of class to protest local ICE activity on February 4. The walkout was organized by Seattle Revolutionary Youth in response to growing fears among local immigrant workers and students about the presence and activity of ICE in the area. Protesters called for the abolition of ICE, denounced U.S. imperialism, and expressed forceful rejection of all forms of electoral cretinism. Toward the end of the walkout, activists burned an American flag and an Israeli flag in protest of U.S. imperialism and the U.S.-Zionist genocide against the Palestinians.

On the next day, over 1,000 students marched in downtown Seattle in a demonstration organized by Seattle Revolutionary Youth along with several other organizations. Students rallied at Seattle City Hall and proceeded to march in the streets to the Space Needle and later to a nearby federal facility. During the demonstration, activists gave speeches connecting ICE terror to the broader imperialist system and expressing solidarity with anti-imperialist struggles in the Third World. Throughout the march, activists hoisted banners reading “Organize, Fight, and Resist ICE TERROR” and “Send ICE Terror and U.S. Imperialism to their Graves: Get Organized and Fight for Socialist Revolution”.

In Issaquah, WA, roughly 150 students from local high schools and a middle school participated in an anti-ICE walkout organized by Issaquah Revolutionary Youth on February 9. Activists marched to a local police station carrying banners reading: “It Is Right to Rebel” and “Organize, Fight, and Resist ICE TERROR”. A group of reactionary agitators attempted to intimidate the protesters by harassing and filming them, but were successfully warded off by the students.

In Bellevue, WA, over 500 students from multiple high schools walked out of class on February 4 and participated in a march organized by Bellevue Revolutionary Youth. Students commemorated the murdered anti-ICE activists Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti and condemned the repression and terror carried out by federal agents against the people, connecting the attacks of the ruling class against foreign-born workers to the broader onslaught against the working class as a whole.

In Portland, OR, over 500 students from multiple schools walked out of class December 17 to protest ICE. The walkout was organized by Beaverton Revolutionary Student Front, who led chants against ICE, the school administration, and the genocidal U.S.-Zionist occupation of Palestine. They advocated for militant resistance against ICE terror, chanting “Turn Portland into LA, run the pigs and ICE away!” The walkout culminated in a march on the Portland Public Library, which was chosen for its history of hosting U.S. military recruitment events targeted towards young foreign-born workers.

In Santa Cruz, CA, around 400 students rallied on February 3 at the Red Square at the University of California Santa Cruz and marched for half a mile through the college campus. The march was organized by Revolutionary Student Organization—Santa Cruz. During the march, demonstrators beat an effigy of the ultra-reactionary Donald Trump and chanted slogans such as “We will fight for worker power, make these paper tigers cower!” and “Students for the working class, revolution long last!” Activists from RSO gave speeches condemning ICE terror and the broader reactionization of the U.S. state and society. Speakers also denounced the crimes of U.S. imperialism around the world, including the U.S.-Zionist genocide against the Palestinian people and the U.S. invasion of Venezuela.

In Davis, CA, around 350 students took part in an anti-ICE demonstration on January 30 at the University of California Davis. Activists from Revolutionary Student Organization—Davis gave speeches denouncing U.S. imperialism and connecting the struggle against U.S. wars abroad to the struggle against ICE at home, and led chants such as “It is right to rebel! ICE, ICE, go to Hell!”

In San Antonio, TX, around 500 students took part in a demonstration against ICE on February 3 at the University of Texas San Antonio. The demonstration was organized by Right to Rebel San Antonio and featured the burning and desecration of the U.S. flag in defiance of the Trump administration’s efforts to criminalize this form of protest. Activists from Right to Rebel gave speeches denouncing U.S. imperialism and calling for militant resistance to ICE terror and hoisted banners reading “End UTSA PD Collaboration with ICE!”, “Honor the Lives of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, Martyred by ICE!”, and “LEARN FROM CHAIRMAN GONZALO, UNITE UNDER MAOISM!”

Toward the end of the demonstration, former U.S. presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, a central figure of the Democratic mafia in the state of Texas, sought to co-opt the protest by giving a speech trafficking in the masses outrage against ICE to promote the electoral campaigns of the Democratic mob. Activists from Right to Rebel forcefully disrupted this speech, denouncing O’Rourke and the Democratic gangsters to their faces.

In West Lafayette, IN, over 600 students, workers, and faculty participated in a protest against ICE on February 5 at Purdue University. The protest was organized by West Lafayette Revolutionary Student Front. RSF activists gave speeches denouncing electoralism and both the Republican and Democratic mafias, connecting ICE terror to U.S. imperialism, and calling for a revolutionary struggle against the ruling class and hoisted banners reading “Students Unite Against ICE” and “Long Live the Resistance”. Reformist and revisionist organizations boycotted the protest or attempted to co-opt the demonstration, but their speeches and agitation efforts were shut down by RSF activists.

Photo: Over 1,000 students rally in downtown Seattle in a demonstration organized by Seattle Revolutionary Youth along with several other organizations on February 5.

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