Hundreds of SLO County students walk out of school to protest ICE
Students across San Luis Obispo County walked out of class and campus Friday morning in solidarity with a nationwide anti-ICE strike calling for no school, no work and no shopping.
Hundreds of students walked out of San Luis Obispo High School, making their way downtown to march and chant.
Another 100 students congregated on Dexter Lawn at Cal Poly, holding signs and protesting immigration enforcement. A large group then marched and chanted around campus.
“Everything’s peaceful right now,” an official said over the emergency scanner during the university’s walkout.
Friday’s strike also extended to local businesses — dozens of which shut their doors or took other action to protest nationwide immigration enforcement.
SLO students protest immigration enforcement
SLO High School saw about 200 students walk out of classes and congregate in the school’s common area, holding signs and chanting slogans like “Get ICE off our streets” and “What do we want? Freedom.”
Attendance was down at the campus as of first period, according to assistant superintendent of educational services Lisa Yamashita.
Student Tori Simms was at the protest on campus Friday.
“We’re out here to protest ICE being in our schools,” she told The Tribune. “As a community, I think it’s, like, important that we all step up for those who can’t, and we protect our classmates and their families.”
Student Bee Penna was part of the organization of Friday’s student walkout.
“I am out here to protest the violence and the cruelty and brutality against the innocent people in our country from the agents who think that they are doing the right thing, even though they are not,” Penna said.
The school’s Young Democrats Club organized a Valentine’s Day project for a high school in Minneapolis that has been affected by immigration enforcement. The club asked students to fill out heart-shaped cards that co-president Lucy Beck told The Tribune they would quilt together into one large poster to send to the school.
“These poor kids at this school have been through so much,” Beck said. “We’re trying to stand in solidarity with them and do whatever we can to show that they have our support.”
Exander Luna started at the protest standing with others on a table in the common area. He and Melisa Tapia led the crowd in a chant of “No ICE, no KKK, no more fascist USA.”
Luna told The Tribune he has family members in areas of the nation where ICE activity has been heavy, and described the country as going through a “really dark time.”
“That dark time is because of the fascists that are now ruling the government,” he said. “ICE is taking children, taking families apart, taking innocent people off our streets where they belong. This is supposed to be a country of freedom.”
Luna shared a message for the community and his fellow students.
“Always look out for your peers,” he said. “Make sure they are safe. Make sure you are out there in the streets fighting for the innocent people who crossed over not to take our jobs, not to change this country, but to make this country a better place as a part of the community. They belong here. They came here for a better life, for freedom, and now they are being oppressed.”
High schoolers march in downtown SLO
At least 100 students left campus and headed downtown SLO to chant and march through the streets, as passing cars honked in support.
Some students at the downtown march waved signs saying “No one is illegal on stolen land,” and “Immigrants pay taxes, billionaires don’t.”
Another had a sign saying “ICE is for melting.”
High school student Josue Saavedra marched downtown following the walkout and protest on campus Friday morning.
He told The Tribune he was there to protest violence at the hands of immigration enforcement officers and the loss of opportunity he said occurs as a result of the violence.
“It’s come to a point when we live in a place in a country where there’s so much violence, and we just become desensitized to it, and it becomes something that people just shrug off,” he said. “And we’re here to say that that’s not OK.”
He continued: “We have to stand up and not let violence take over our country.”
Students Brooke and Jaia — who didn’t want to provide their last names — were also downtown protesting and holding a sign that said “Hot people melt ICE.”
Brooke told The Tribune her family has a house in Minnesota, so the immigration enforcement activity and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti hit home.
“We need freedom,” she said.
Jaia added that protest isn’t just about deportation.
“It’s about violence, it’s about fascism, and that’s not something we can stand for,” she said.
Arroyo Grande High School students walk out of class
Dozens of students at Arroyo Grande High School also walked out of class Friday morning.
Photos provided to The Tribune showed students holding signs saying “ICE out of 805” and “Without due process it is kidnapping.”
Another student had a sign saying “Fight ignorance not immigrants.”
Video footage showed the students marching near the high school’s parking lot and hollering.
Spokesperson Amy Jacobs did not have a specific number of students who walked out as of 11:30 a.m. She reported that attendance at the start of the day was normal.
Cal Poly students join in anti-ICE strike
At least 100 Cal Poly students were also striking as of 10:38 a.m.
They held posters reading “Abolish ICE” and “ICE out of SLO.”
Daniela Arias, biomedical engineering senior, came to the ICE protest to represent first-generation Mexican-Americans and her family.
“I think it’s important for me to be here and at least get my voice out,” Arias told The Tribune. “Sometimes it’s hard because people say there’s only so much you can do, but just being heard is just so strong and so empowering, and it motivates more people to come out here. In the beginning I was also scared to come out, and it’s like, how much can I do? But you see so many people here, and if we all come together our voices are just so strong.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 12:42 PM.
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