MUKILTEO—Hundreds of Kamiak High School students walked out of class on Wednesday, February 4, to protest recent ICE-related deaths and immigration enforcement “without due cause.”
The walkout was organized through social media channels and word of mouth. Though Kamiak Principal Stephen Shurtleff, and several teachers, were aware of the walkout prior they approached the protest with neutrality, says Kamiak High School student Joy Totten, not wanting to either show support, nor tell students they couldn’t exercise their first amendment rights.
The walkout began at 9:30 in the morning that Wednesday, when hundreds (estimated to be approximately 500, according to some participants) walked out of their classes, heading outside where five student speakers gave speeches about why they were protesting from a small PA system, all revolving around the themes of protecting immigrant rights, and how nobody should fear of returning to an empty home.
“It was a huge group. I want to say it was up to 500 people, probably half the school to two thirds,” said ninth grade student Totten. “The courtyard area where they did the speeches was literally filled.”
Though Principle Shurtleff was aware of the protest he urged students to at least return to campus by third period to resume class, Totten told the Lynnwood Times. However, many students disobeyed this request and headed to Mukilteo Boulevard, outside Walgreen’s, wafting signs critical of ICE.
“I’m protesting ICE because I have a lot of friends who aren’t white, who are scared that their families will get detained with no due process. I’m Native American so I’m not worried about going home to an empty home, but I am worried for my friends and my classmates,” said Totten. “I don’t want them or their families to become endangered just because they’re not white. They’re not even undocumented immigrants. ICE doesn’t like to give due process. I get that they want to get rid of criminals but they’re also going for innocent people, and that’s the part that I’m protesting. If they wanted to go after criminals, they would be arresting criminals.”
Totten shared with the Lynnwood Times that she believes ICE’s purpose is to stop people from illegally immigrating to the United States, and that it should protect American citizens but that’s not happening in her opinion.
“Most crime typically doesn’t come from undocumented immigrants; it comes from American citizens. I feel like ICE doesn’t need a giant force of people, particularly from stopping undocumented immigrants. I feel like they could use the resources to invest in the police force to stop criminals,” said Totten.
Totten also referenced several videos she has seen online, of ICE agents smashing in windows, walking in houses without a warrant, and more recently the tragic deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Further, Totten continued that ICE agents should always be properly uniformed, unmasked, and wear body cameras so people can identify them, to avoid malicious impersonators, and be able to review footage in possible use of force investigations.
“There’s going to be bad everywhere, but we can do something about it by having them wear body cameras and reviewing the footage,” said Totten. “I don’t think we should target people by their race. We’re all human. I don’t think someone deserves to die just because they weren’t born in the U.S. and aren’t White.”
Totten doesn’t know of, or suspect, any future walkouts, at least soon adding that walkouts are rare, especially in close proximity to each other, and are done to make a dramatic affect because they “gain more attention than protests.”
She applauded the Washington State Legislature for cracking down on immigration enforcement from a state level, such as a SB-5855 that would prohibit face coverings of law enforcement (passed Senate, now in House), SB-5925 which guardrails for privacy and civil liberties (passed Senate, now in House), HB-2165 that addresses impersonation of police (passed House, now in Senate), and HB-1710, an act relating to compliance with the Washington voting rights act of 2018 (passed House, now in Senate).
The last time Kamiak High School students walked out was to call for tighter COVID response measures in 2022, and another walkout in 2018 protesting youth gun violence.
Following the walkout, and subsequent protest, Totten said the reactions were mixed. On Next Door, for example, nearly 14,000 people reacted to the students’ actions, but it was almost a fifty-fifty split on whether they were supportive or critical.
Critics said the students should stay in school, and further criticized Kamiak High School administration for allowing them to protest in the first place. Others, in support, either directly applauded the message the students were trying to make or, at the very least, supported their first amendment rights to do so.
ICE has deported over 540,000 people since January 2025 but has been met, particularly as of late, with national outrage over use of force killings and tactics at large.
President Donald J Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement, often labeled draconian by critics, stems from a backlash against policies under his predecessor, Joe Biden, which many Republicans blamed for record migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
