1st Place, Breaking News Coverage
2025-26, Division 1, News Writing
By Lakshya Jaiganesh, Amelia Bai & Ishaan Kamat
The Emery
Ann Arbor Huron HS
On Feb. 4, an estimated 400 Huron High School students gathered to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), holding handmade signs and chanting as their voices reverberated throughout the arch.
The walkout began at 12:16 p.m., when co-organizers senior Salem Dinh and junior Khadijah Mbengue addressed the crowd, explaining the walkout and the purpose of the protest.
“It’s our responsibility to advocate as well, especially as students,” Dinh said. “It’s within our constitutional rights.”
Senior Angelys Ramirez, the daughter of Honduran immigrants, spoke about her parents’ journey to the United States and the sacrifices they made to provide opportunities for their children.
“They only had their dreams,” Ramirez said. “They came to this country to pursue [their dreams], to find themselves and to start a family. They’ve given me and my siblings amazing opportunities.”
ICE is a federal agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws, including detention and deportation. In recent years, expanded enforcement efforts and increased local activity have raised concerns with immigrant communities, especially in Washtenaw County.
“[My parents] work hard every single day,” Ramirez said. “It’s so scary to think that one day that [ICE] could come and [the] whole entire life that they’ve built up from nothing will be taken away from them.”
Much of the walkout centered on personal experiences shared by student speakers. Dinh described the fear that accompanies many students with immigrant families.
“Every single day when I go home, I’m scared that I’m gonna get a call that my parents have been detained,” Dinh said. “Because even though they have their papers and they have their citizenship, the administration has shown very clearly that that does not matter.”
The event continued on, with spoken poetry given by student organizers and speakers.
“We [are seeing] so many [repeats] of things that happened in the past,” Mbengue said. “They keep happening because people aren’t looking at what happened and [aren’t] doing something differently.”
The organizers hoped that the walkout would increase awareness around the issue and bring the community together.
“There’s so many people here who do truly care and who do want to fight [ICE],” sophomore Lorena Moore said. “And it’s so powerful to see the huge crowd that came out. I think that we should fight for something that we believe in.”
Near the end of the walkout, students held a moment of silence as organizers listed the names of people who were killed by ICE. They encouraged everyone to hold up phone flashlights and candles in order to honor and pay respect to the victims.
“We are the future,” Ramirez said. “We are so powerful on our own, but we are also more powerful together. And truly, I think unity is one of the most important things that we have.”