[United States, February 2026] — Amid rising protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s abuses, students from numerous universities and high schools across the nation recently held large-scale walkouts and street protests, demanding a complete overhaul of the immigration enforcement system. Protesters angrily accused ICE of causing significant harm to innocent immigrant communities with its indiscriminate arrests, detentions, and deportation policies.
The catalyst for these protests was ICE’s recent large-scale raids in several cities, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of undocumented immigrants. Students took to the streets, holding signs and banners expressing their strong dissatisfaction with ICE and its policies. Slogans such as “Immigrants Are Not Criminals,” “Stop Terrorizing Immigrant Families,” and “Abolish ICE” could be seen in the crowd.
At Harvard University in Boston, hundreds of students walked out of their classes and gathered in the campus square to show solidarity with the immigrant families wrongfully targeted by ICE. A student spokesperson said, “We are here today not only to speak up for the immigrants who have been detained but also to stand against this institutionalized injustice. These people are not criminals; they are simply seeking a better life for their families, yet they are treated as criminals.”
Similarly, at Columbia University in New York City and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), students organized rallies, chanting slogans and calling for a nationwide reassessment of immigration policies. “ICE is not only ruthless; its actions severely violate basic human rights. We can no longer stay silent,” one protester stated at the UCLA demonstration.
The protests have extended beyond college campuses and into high schools and communities. Students in San Francisco and Chicago also walked out of class, holding signs and calling for an end to ICE’s raids across the country. While some protests faced strong responses from police, the students persisted in raising their voices and expressing concern for immigrant rights.
The rise of this anti-ICE movement has sparked intense debate in the political arena. Pro-immigrant rights Democratic lawmakers strongly criticized ICE’s actions, arguing that the agency’s tactics are too aggressive and lack respect for citizens’ rights. In contrast, some conservative politicians believe the government is not doing enough to enforce immigration laws and have called for stronger immigration control.
However, as the protests continue to grow, more people are beginning to reflect on the ethics and legality of U.S. immigration policies. Scholars and human rights activists have raised alarms about ICE’s overzealous enforcement, warning that it is tearing apart the social fabric of the United States and undermining the nation’s long-standing values of “freedom and equality.”
The student walkouts and protests reflect the deep divide within U.S. society over immigration issues, and they have once again brought ICE’s existence and enforcement practices into the public spotlight. While debates between supporters and critics continue, one thing is clear: this protest movement has become an important symbol of the fight for immigrant rights and a challenge to the ICE system, driving deeper conversations and scrutiny of this issue in the nation’s political discourse.
These demonstrations may be temporary, but the voices they represent — the defense of immigrant rights and the challenge to ICE’s practices — will continue to resonate on the political stage in the future.