Seattle Area High School Students Walk Out, Demand: ‘ICE Out!’

On January 30, 2026, youth at a number of Seattle, Washington, high schools staged walkouts to protest the nationwide federal immigration crackdown, joining a call for action with students in other U.S. cities. The walkouts continued on February 2 at two more King County schools.

Growing numbers of actions by high school students follow the example set by young people in Minnesota, which has been ground zero in the fight against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent weeks. These protests were initially sparked by the murder of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent on January 7.

“The heart of the message is to express our need for justice,” student Ria de Looze, an organizer of one of several Minneapolis high school walkouts, told MPR News on January 12. “Youth voices are so often overlooked, and this is one of our few ways to organize youth in such a powerful way. We really wanted to get the message out and inspire people to keep up the work.”

World-Outlook is publishing the following article that first appeared the the February 2 Seattle Times for the information of our readers. The headline, text, and photos below are from the original.

— World-Outlook editors

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South King County students walk out in ‘ICE Out’ protest

Feb. 2, 2026 (Updated Feb. 3, 2026)

By Catalina Gaitán

Seattle Times staff reporters

Hundreds of high school students from Highline and Renton school districts walked out of their classrooms and into the rain at 9:45 a.m. Monday, demanding an end to the federal immigration crackdown.

At Highline High School in Burien, about 500 teenagers — over a third of the school’s student body — poured out of the brick building’s front doors for the “ICE Out” protest. Students at Evergreen, Mount Rainier, Raisbeck Aviation, Lindbergh and Big Picture high schools also participated in the walkout, which called for abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. 

Students at other area schools, including in West Seattle and Auburn, had walked out of school on Friday as part of what activists called the National Shutdown day that also led some businesses to close.

The Highline High School students chanted and cheered as they walked west on South 152nd Street toward Burien’s Town Square Park. Many waved signs bearing messages like, “Education not deportation,” “My father works harder than your president,” and “Protect the hand that feeds you.”

Aliyah Garcia, an 18-year-old senior, walked out with a national flag of Mexico draped over her shoulders. Nearly a quarter of Burien residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, more than double that of King County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Approaching the end of her senior year, Garcia said surging ICE activity has made her worry about her future. She hoped the walkout showed other students to “not be afraid to speak up for what is right.” 

“The world is scary right now — the way they’re treating (immigrants and their families),” she said. “All the dehumanization — we’re just people. I don’t understand what makes us so different.” 

Cars honked at the students as they walked toward Eighth Avenue Southwest and turned back toward the school, chanting, “What do we want? ICE out! When do we want it? Now!”

Several parents helped block traffic as the teenagers crossed the street. Among them was Vicki Binns, whose daughter is a senior at Highline.

Binns said she didn’t remember students being as active in protests when she was in high school in the 1990s. She was proud to see her daughter and other Highline students walk out of school and “show solidarity” with people impacted by ICE activity. 

“I applaud it,” Binns said. “It’s necessary right now.”

A few staff members also followed the crowd, including Mandi LeCompte, a district spokesperson, who declined to answer questions. 

The walkouts involving Highline Public Schools were led by students and not sponsored by their schools or the school district, district spokesperson Tove Tupper said in an email Friday.

“Our priority is student safety while respecting students’ right to free expression,” Tupper said. “This is an opportunity for students to learn civic engagement and advocacy skills.”

In an email Friday to families, Highline High School principal Clint Sallee said he could not “formally condone” the walkout, but said he appreciated that students had “internalized lessons of civil rights advocacy.”

“Many of our students are feeling anger for themselves and their classmates threatened by the recent escalation of ICE,” Sallee wrote. “Their freedom of expression and right to protest is not relinquished (at school).”

The students gathered back in front of the school shortly before 11 a.m., many waving signs at passing cars. 

Andre Gordon, a 17-year-old senior, said he felt grateful that the adults in his life, including his teachers, “all fight for us.” But as deportations and arrests by federal immigration enforcement agents swelled over the last year, he said it’s felt as if “there’s no protection” for immigrant families.

Gordon’s parents immigrated before he was born, hoping he and his siblings could achieve “the American dream” — or at least have equal rights as others born in the U.S., he said. He’s become afraid of things he previously didn’t think were possible, including being pulled over because of the color of his skin and deported.

“We shouldn’t have to be scared to live in our own country,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to do this.” 

CatalinaGaitán: 206-464-8276 or cgaitan@seattletimes.com. Catalina Gaitán is a breaking news reporter at The Seattle Times.

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