Students walked out yesterday during lunch in protest of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Sophomore Raymond Vasquez opened the event by delivering a speech during lunch at the circle stage, then students marched out from the T-building gate, holding cultural flags and signs with statements such as “End mass deportation” and “Stop pretending your racism is patriotism.” Students walked from campus to the West Covina City Hall and delivered speeches until 2:52 p.m. 

A spike of protests occurred nationally in response to Trump’s policies such as the one made on Jan. 20 in the executive order the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following his executive order “Protect the American people against invasion” which alleges immigrants of having “significant threats to national security and public safety” and empowers ICE to carry out deportations. 

An Instagram group chat named “wchs PEACEFUL walkout 2/11/25” was created Feb. 7 to plan the walkout that began with an estimated 14 students and grew to 79. From there senior Gabriel Vincent Franco, junior Monika Ramos, and other students created the Instagram account @westco_walkout which released posts that aimed to call other students into action. 

Their first post announced their motivation for planning the walkouts as means to “stand up against the injustice against Hispanics and Latinos, ICE, and the removal of immigrants” and that the event would include the participation of West Covina students and others from local high schools such as Edgewood, Mt. Sac Early College Academy, and South Hills. 

According to the Instagram account, the walkout was intended to be a peaceful protest and all students who wanted to take part in the movement were welcomed to participate given they remained with the group and behaved appropriately. Although the other schools did not protest, Vasquez shared that he felt proud to represent his community.

“Seeing how hard both of my grandmas have fought to give their future generations a better future, and like seeing how much that they sacrificed, I need to sacrifice something too, and fight for their rights,” said sophomore Vasquez.

West Covina police officers on motorbikes, along with WCHS security and administrators Principal Charles Park, Assistant Principals Sean McCallon and Melanie Wong and Athletic Director Randy Bell escorted students to City Hall, which is 2.1 miles from campus. Principal Charles Park explained that student safety was prioritized during the event. 

“When I first heard about it, I wanted to make sure I have the right information, that’s one and two is to make sure that in every step we take, it’s all about student safety, and three to understand the context and be able to communicate with all different staff to be ready for a day like this,” said Park.

The group walked to West Covina City Hall, chanting phrases like “No more ICE,” “Students against ICE” and “Viva la raza” – “Long live the race.” As students walked, some passersby engaged with the protest by honking their car horns, playing music from their cars, recording the group, and cautioning students to be safe.

Once at the West Covina Veterans Memorial by City Hall, protestors circled around each other while speeches and performances were made by students such as Franco and Vasquez. Franco sang “This Land Is Your Land,” by American songwriter Woody Guthrie, which has themes of inclusivity and equality. Speaking through a megaphone, Franco quoted famous political leaders such as Emiliano Zapata, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, John Lewis and expressed anti-Trump and anti-fascist viewpoints. 

“We give this to our young people and our students as a part of the great tradition of our nation, so I think we are in good company when we break unjust laws, and I think those who are willing to do it and accept the penalty of those who are part in the saving of this nation,” said Franco. 

During this, a student, who will remain unnamed due to safety concerns, arrived at the City Hall holding an American flag and shouting “U.S.A” while wearing a ski-mask and a shirt that read “I’m voting for the convicted felon” with an image of Trump. Protesters followed the student and, after one unidentified student removed his mask, chased him into a van driven by an unknown individual.

Despite these events, Franco believed the event was successful as it brought students together.

“This was like very last minute, but we managed to still pull it off and the amount of people we got was incredible… I’ve always wanted to do something like this, I think this is what I want to do with my life,” said Franco.

Some students questioned if administration would allow the walkout to occur or if there would be repercussions for participants. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, an American non-profit civil rights organization, “You have the right to speak out, hand out flyers and petitions, and wear expressive clothing in school — as long as you don’t disrupt the functioning of the school or violate school policies that don’t hinge on the message expressed,” essentially meaning administration could not bar students from protesting and students who protested will not be penalized however Park will have a discussions with those who organized the walkout. 

“I think I do have some questions for individual students, and there’s nothing wrong in me asking those questions. If there’s any discipline that needs to be addressed, of course, I will address that,” said Park. 

Not only was the protest made to bring together students, but to shed light on a greater problem in the country. Junior Giselle Jaramillo recalls her experience of this being her first protest and the bonding of each of the protestors.

“It was honestly really amazing, I’ve never been to a protest before so this gave me the opportunity to be a part of one…you could tell the sense of community between everyone here, and I’ve talked to some people that I’ve never even talked to before, but this just like brought everyone together,” said Jaramillo. 

This story was originally published on WCHS Insight on February 12, 2025.