Before the first bell of late start on Feb. 23, about 25 students gathered at Fenton City Hall and then moved to Hawkins Road in order to protest the increased presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the United States. In January, tensions reached a peak in the United States after the deaths of Minneapolis citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. These tensions prompted a National Day of Protest on Jan. 30. Those in defiance against ICE  were encouraged to not attend work or school, as well as limit their spending as much as possible. For the Saint Louis area, multiple high schools, such as Kirkwood, Marquette, Lafayette, and Nerinx Hall participated in walkouts on Feb. 6. 

Under the First Amendment, citizens of the United States hold the right peaceably to assemble, this right applying to students as well. Senior Nolan Rittgers, who attended the Feb. 23 protest, expressed how important he believes it is to protest as a student. 

“I think it’s important for people to see that there are young people out there who are willing to show their voice, and show their either support or disapproval of things that the government is doing. It’s our job as citizens to express our feelings about what the government does, and that’s how you create a healthy democracy. It doesn’t even matter what you’re protesting, just protesting anything and getting your voice out is one of the most important things that a person can do,” Rittgers said. 

Similarly, junior Ella Laury said that she sees the importance of protesting as something that builds students into involved citizens. 

“Kids are the future of America, and they’re the future of the world, so it’s important that we know that we can speak up,” Laury said. 

While on Hawkins, students protesting heard many words of either support or disagreement from passing cars. Senior Apple Smith explained that the amount of support received from citizens came as a nice surprise.

“The level of support that we saw when we were standing out there in front of the school was absolutely amazing. I honestly didn’t expect that many people would be honking their horns, or yelling out their car windows,” Smith said. 

In contrast, sophomore Devin Walker said that he was in one of the cars objecting to the protest on his way to school. 

“I was actually [in] one of the cars that was actually yelling at people. I was disagreeing with them,” Walker said. 

According to The Guardian, in comparison to the past 20 years, with 32 people dead, 2025 had the most deaths of individuals in custody with ICE. Rittgers explained that he wasn’t protesting for him self, he was protesting for those who have been impacted by ICE. 

“It’s for me personally, it’s really just about trying to show support for victims of ICE, like Renee Nicole Good, and just trying to get justice for people like her. I feel like the more people, especially the young people, that can speak out against that, the more likely action will be taken against it,” Rittgers said. 

To many Americans, ICE is a powerful force that is helping to improve the wellbeing of our country. Walker agrees with this, saying that he appreciates the work ICE is doing. 

“I’m pro-ICE, I like what ICE is doing around here, cleaning up the area. I like how they’re taking all the dirty criminals off the street, and, you know, sending them back to their countries,” Walker said. 

For Laury, she said that by using the freedoms given to her, she feels as though she was able to share her beliefs.

“Seeing how other people struggle and knowing how I feel about the situation definitely made me feel like I helped in some way. And some kind of power to be able to speak my voice,” Laury said.