In protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions, approximately 70 Oxford students walked out yesterday at 11:00 a.m., despite facing the consequence of truancy in attendance records. 

While ICE raids have been occurring nationwide since last spring, recent weeks have seen increased activity across California, particularly Orange County. These local developments, combined with the treatment of immigrants nationwide, and the shooting death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis, prompted students to organize and participate in yesterday’s walkout.

Students cited a variety of reasons for deciding to walk out. 

“With everything that’s happening, especially in Minnesota with all the violence that ICE is causing, I think [walking out] might not be the lawfully right thing to do, but morally and ethically, it is,” senior Jude Kim said.

“Peaceful protests are one of the things granted to us in the U.S. constitution and if we don’t use our constitution to help our people, then we are misusing our privilege,” senior Diya Luthra said. 

“My sign says ‘liberty and justice for all’ because that is part of the Pledge of Allegiance that we say everyday. I believe everyone deserves due process and the opportunity to experience what America represents, as the ‘land of the free’,” senior Janet Tran said.

“I was motivated to walk out today because what is going on is not okay, and it is important for us as students to use our voices to stand up for what we believe is right,” sophomore Serina Redwan said. 

During the walkout, some passing vehicles honked in support of the students, while others expressed opposition against the movement. In one instance, a passerby profanely confronted Tran about her sign.

“When the woman confronted my sign, it was scary, but I was defending people who are being detained without due process,” Tran said. “When we fight for our neighbours, we fight for ourselves. If they think it’s okay to treat undocumented like this, who are they stopping their mistreatment at?” 

The walkout was initially organized and publicized through social media posts, stating “Walkout of School for Mexican Rights.” However, many Oxford students became aware of the event after an email was sent out on Monday, January 26 at 5:31 p.m. by AUHSD Superintendent Dr. Jaron Fried. In the message, Dr. Fried expressed support for students’ exercising their voices while clarifying that the walkout is not sponsored by the district or individual schools due to a lack of prior coordination with administrators. 

Later that evening, Oxford Academy Principal Amber Houston sent a similar email reiterating that the walkout is not a school or district-sponsored event. Her message also mentioned that precautionary measures for student safety, such as the increased presence of the Anaheim Police Department, would be implemented. 

Students who participated in the walkout were marked truant in the attendance system, and parents were notified of their students’ absence. Some students returned to campus mid-way through the school day, while others remained off campus for the remainder of it. 

“I was afraid of the consequences, but those are temporary. What is happening now could be permanent for many people,” 7th grader Nayeli Arroyo said. “A lot of people are impacted, and you got to do what you got to do for what’s right.”

“Our largest concern is safety,” Principal Houston said. “AUHSD, Oxford, myself, and our teachers here, we want to encourage and empower students to have engagement in civic responsibility, to teach them what a democracy is, what rights they have, their freedom of speech, and their freedom of peaceful protest. Once you leave campus, we now have a liability for our district which is making sure we know who left. So, legally, we mark those as truant because that is what the code is.”

“The spirit of the law and the law can be two very different things. I think AUHSD’s position and my position is that this is a truancy, but we’re not going to punish these kids,” Principal Houston said. “There’s consequences for truancy, and we’re not giving consequences for this.” 

According to state officials, there is no other attendance code that the truancy can be declared as, Principal Houston said after speaking with AUHSD Assistant Superintendent Amy Kwon. 

The Gamut has reached out to district officials for comment.

This story is developing.