Pierce County teens protest ICE. ‘I’m going to be on the right side of history.’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Students at Gig Harbor and Peninsula high schools led anti‑ICE walkouts.
- About 100 students at each school marched to intersections, chanted and held up signs.
- District affirmed student free‑speech rights while outlining rules for student absences.
A few hundred students walked out of Gig Harbor High School and Peninsula High School Friday to protest federal immigration enforcement.
Students at both high schools held up signs, shouted messages against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cheered as they walked to busy intersections. Cars honked in support as they drove by.
Peninsula High School students started their march Friday morning from the flagpole in front of the school and walked toward the Purdy Spit, where they stood on the corner of Purdy Drive Northwest and Key Peninsula Highway.
Gig Harbor High School students started their march at noon and walked downtown to the corner of Pioneer Way and Harborview Drive, where they stood briefly before walking back to Skansie Brothers Park and spreading out on both sides of the street.
“ICE has made it perfectly clear that no one is safe from them,” Lily Swenson, 17, one of the Gig Harbor High School walkout organizers, told The News Tribune in a phone call before the walkout. “And if you dare to speak out, you’re at risk of being hurt or detained or anything ... I just think no one should be scared to walk outside and speak their mind. I think we have that right, and we deserve that right.”
About 100 students participated in each protest, shouting statements like “Get ICE out,” “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.” and “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
“As long as one person can share their voice, they can make a small difference,” Garrett Howard, a 17-year-old junior at Peninsula High School, told a reporter at the walkout. “The more people the better, so I’m here helping enlarge the group.”
He said that he heard about the walkout from an Instagram account, @peninsulaactivism. The account shows posts about a planned anti-ICE walkout starting Feb. 4. Peninsula High School senior, Ali Paquette, the account’s founder, said that she started the Instagram account because there was an earlier walkout from Peninsula High School that many people told her felt disorganized and that they would have gone if they’d known about it.
Matthew Neff, a 16-year-old sophomore at Gig Harbor High School, said he also heard about the planned walkout on Instagram.
“ ... it really spoke to me, and I decided I’m going to be on the right side of history today,” Neff said.
“We just want equality, we want safety for all Americans,” he added later.
The protests come after U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement officers fatally shot two Minneapolis residents, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, in two separate incidents last month.
Members from activist groups such as Indivisible Gig Harbor also joined in the protests, holding up their own signs and banners and standing some distance apart from the student protesters. Indivisible Gig Harbor is a “grassroots coalition of engaged citizens pursuing progressive action to transform the current political climate on local, state, and federal levels,” and is connected to the national Indivisible organization, according to their website.
“I am so immensely proud of these kids,” Connie FitzPatrick, co-chair of Indivisible Gig Harbor, said in a phone call Thursday. She said that they heard about the planned walkout from Swenson and discussed how to show up in support of the students.
A group of about five youth led a counterprotest at the Gig Harbor walkout, holding blue and red Trump flags and shouting at protesters across the street. They declined to comment when asked by The News Tribune.
There was one counterprotester holding a sign in support of ICE during the walkout from Peninsula High School, said senior Ali Paquette.
School leaders anticipated walkouts, clarified policies for student absences
Prior to the protests, school administrators sent emails to families saying that they were aware of the planned walkouts and informing parents of how schools would handle absences of those who chose to participate.
“Peninsula School District and our schools are not planning, organizing, or endorsing this walkout,” the message from administrators said. “The event is student-initiated and student-led, and it is not a school-sponsored activity.”
The district’s communications contractor Shana Nash shared the message with The News Tribune via email, noting that the district sent it to secondary school principals to share with families Feb. 6.
The message went on to explain that schools are responsible for monitoring student safety and ensuring learning can continue for students who remain in class, though the district recognizes the importance of free speech.
Students who didn’t return to class will be marked absent, and a parent, guardian or 18-year-old student can contact the school to excuse the absence, the message continued. Additionally, students who leave campus and miss class wouldn’t be allowed to ride the school bus home at the of the school day, the message said.
The News Tribune asked the district for more information about the bus policy and the reasoning behind it in an email Thursday. Nash responded via email and said that the district had just issued an update to families and staff. The message, which Nash forwarded on behalf of Chief of Schools Michael Farmer, clarified that if “a student leaves during lunch (or another planned time) to participate in a walkout and returns to class, they will be allowed to ride the bus home.”
“Per our usual protocol, if a student leaves campus for the duration of the school day, it would be considered an unexcused absence, and they would not be allowed to return to campus just to ride the bus home,” the message said.
“ ... We support our students’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, including peaceful protesting. However, the district will continue to monitor the situation to ensure a safe, supportive learning environment for students and staff.”
Swenson, one of organizers for the walkout from Gig Harbor High School, said that she and other students reached out to their principal before the walkout, letting him know of their plans and asking for his support. They later received the message saying that the school was aware of the planned walkout and letting them know their rights to free speech and peaceful protesting.
“I don’t think there’s been much pushback about the transportation aspect,” Swenson said Thursday. “I think overall, the student body is just kind of grateful that we are not being told that we can’t do this, and we’re not being told that this is going to get us in trouble.”
Gig Harbor High School junior Nate Dietrich, 17, told The News Tribune that he wanted to send a message about how his generation feels.
“ ... the young generation, we see what’s going on and we want to change it,” he said. “We don’t want this to repeat in the future and we want to make sure people know we’re not OK with what’s going on.”
