Throughout history, students have advocated for justice and political change. New policies, written by recently inaugurated President Trump, are cracking down on undocumented immigrants and have sparked protests across the country.
On Jan. 31, 2025, students of Ventura and Oxnard, Calif. School Districts hosted a walkout in protest of the new deportation policies. Waving signs, posters, banners and flags, hundreds of students took to the streets in protest. Signs saying, “Immigrants make America great” or “Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You,” all opposed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that began on Jan. 28, 2025, in the Oxnard area. By 10 a.m., Plaza Park in Oxnard was filled with protesting students, waving at cars and shouting chants.
This was not the first time students in Ventura County have held a peaceful protest in regards to immigration policies. On Oct. 8, 1994, students protested in Plaza Park against Proposition 187 (prop 187), a law that requires investigation into any individual suspected of being an illegal immigrant and illegalizes using social services until confirmed to be an American citizen. This law was voided by federal court in 1999 and deemed unconstitutional.
Now, new proposals from President Trump will reinstate laws, like prop 187, if passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate. These new laws are even more rigid than prop 187 because they legalize mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, whereas previous laws simply required law enforcement to report the immigration status to local governments. Trump is also in favor of abolishing of the birthright citizenship law, which would opposes the 14th Amendment, however, this initiative was delegitimized in court.
“I always aim for my people, not only Mexico, but Latin America,” Andres Viera Torres, one of Foothill Tech’s Spanish teachers, said. He explained that he understands the new laws coming down from the federal government but doesn’t, “agree on how they are executing the orders.”
Students at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech), and other Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) schools, continued their peaceful protest from the previous week by not attending classes on Feb. 3, 2025. Some classrooms were half full and many wondered what had happened.
Sequoia Castro ‘28, a participant in the absence protest, said that, “it was kind of nice to show the power that Hispanics have.” She went on to say that the recent protests were the result of a boiling point. “There was so much change in a short period of time […] of course [there] has been in the past, but not like this, so people decided we got to stick up for ourselves.”
The new laws will not only affect undocumented immigrants but could also have consequences fully legal ones. The orders make it much easier for organizations such as ICE to deport documented immigrants with even the slightest slip ups, such as renewing a visa late or committing a petty crime.
Protests and walk-outs such as this, are not only demonstrations of justice but a representation of the growth of student involvement in political changes. “As long as it’s peaceful they can do whatever they want,” Caleb Moldanado ‘26, another student at Foothill Tech said. He explained that protests are a, “non violent way of speaking your mind” and that they are an effective and important way to, “bring attention to a subject.”
If a student wants to change something they see in the world, an organized and nonviolent protest is an ethical way to bring about awareness. It’s a right given to everyone in the United States by the First Amendment of the Constitution: freedom of speech and the right to assembly. When asked what the demonstrations will do for the community, Juliett Larson ‘28 commented, “I think it will help the community be more connected and understand each other better.”
