Students Walk Out Across the Country to Protest ICE

From Georgia to Arizona, young people are standing up to federal agents’ violent operations in American towns and cities.

Groves High School students hold signs after walking out of morning class on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 in Birmingham, Mich. There is snow on the ground and around a dozen protestors.

Groves High School students hold signs after walking out of morning class on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 in Birmingham, Mich.Corey R. Williams/AP

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Students at the University of Minnesota, united with hundreds of groups across the country, are imploring people, young and old, to join a general strike on Friday. No school, no work, no economic participation, all toward the goal of ceasing funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The strike comes after weeks of the Department of Homeland Security occupying the Twin Cities and targeting immigrants at school, work, and home. And after federal agents on this campaign shot and killed two US citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti.

As a part of the nationwide mobilization, students around the country are walking out of school to stand against President Donald Trump and DHS’s violent operations targeting American towns and cities. 

Here’s a look:

I passed these amazing kids in Chamblee walking out of school to protest ICE. Bravo, future, bravo. #walkoutGA #walkout #studentprotest #protest #abolishICE

MollyRoseWalker (@mollyrosewalker.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T06:33:42.793Z

HAPPENING NOW: KNOXVILLE/KNOX COUNTY students walk out to protest ICE (H/T @votegloriaj.bsky.social )

The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T16:07:59.407Z
@yvonnebravo1

Agua Fria High School District students are walking out today, joining high schools nationwide. They’re speaking truth to power and demanding action on immigration because silence is no longer an option! ✊🏼

♬ original sound – Greatest Hits Ever!

TODAY: Thousands at UCLA walk out of class, calling for solidarity with Minnesota and to demand ICE out of California. The walkout was organized by UCLA’s student government along with the Afrikan Student Union and other student clubs and organizations.

BreakThrough News (@btnewsroom.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T00:27:25.320810254Z
@telemundo.az

En ASU los estudiantes protestan contra ICE como parte del Día de Paro Nacional. #tempe #asu #paronacional #walkout @valentinasr_news

♬ original sound – telemundo.az – telemundo.az

BREAKING: Hundreds of Asheville High School students walk out of class to demand a general strike, joining the national shutdown today to protest ICE operations and Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.

BreakThrough News (@btnewsroom.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T17:33:36.473017581Z

Happening now: Hundreds of students from Urban School of San Francisco walk out in protest of ICE.

The San Francisco Standard (@sfstandard.com) 2026-01-30T21:14:48.042Z

Not your mother's protest here in Portland. High Schooler are out in force as part of the national strike.

Tim Dickinson (@timdickinson.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T21:14:25.654Z
@detroitfreepress

Students at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School walked out at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a series of high-profile killings by the agency in Minneapolis and elsewhere.   It’s one of several walkouts planned across metro Detroit and the United States, all while many small businesses closed for the day to participate in a national shutdown general strike following the ICE officers’ killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The agency was involved in the killings of at least six others last year, according to a tally compiled by the liberal American Prospect magazine and based on news articles.   Other businesses said they would remain open, but issued anti-ICE statements. Detroit and Oak Park pizzeria Pie Sci wrote on Facebook that it does not support “the harm caused by current immigration enforcement practices” but will remain open.   “Every day, ICE, Border Patrol and other enforcers of Trump’s racist agenda are going into our communities to kidnap our neighbors and sow fear,” the national shutdown organizing website reads. “It is time for us to all stand up together in a nationwide shutdown and say enough is enough!”   Read more using the link in bio. 📹 Video by Violet Ikonomova, DFP. #protests #detroit #michigan #ice

♬ original sound – Detroit Free Press

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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Investigative journalism, like the story you just read, takes time to do. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices

We can afford to take that time because we don’t report to an oligarch or corporation with a special agenda. We report to you, and for you. That’s why we unabashedly pursue the truth and relentlessly shine a light into the darkness.

In this month’s Summer Membership Drive, we’ve got to raise $200,000 to support more crucial investigations. This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. We cannot do this work without you.

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