A large group of students from Manitowoc Lincoln High School walked out of class yesterday.
The protest, which was organized by Paige Hinz, was to raise awareness of what she called “unlawful actions” taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“It’s not only happening in Minneapolis, it’s also happening (here),” Hinz tells Seehafer News.com. “Our friends are being affected by this. Our peers, our classmates, their families, are also being ripped apart by these actions.”
Hinz tells us that the rise in ICE deportations hits home for her, because “I do know a couple of people (whose) parents have had to be in hiding, or…their siblings got deported.”
The group of 50 or so students marched from the school, north on 8th Street, around the courthouse just after 10:00 a.m., and back up to the school with banners.
As for why the protest was planned during school hours, Hinz explained, “It’s kind of just like a representation, like, ‘Hey, we care about this.’ We are the kids who are going to be voting in the next elections. We care really deeply about this…During school hours, it’s a time where everyone can just say, like, ‘Hey, yeah, I’ve been in a walkout protest’ because it…sends a big message.”
Hinz says she hopes that the public demonstration will help draw attention to the issue, and that “ICE agents will start being held to the same standards as local law enforcement with due process.”
