Hundreds of students across Chicago’s North Side walked out of their classrooms Monday in protest of the Trump administration’s continued mass deportation campaign.
The rally came after a string of actions staged across the Chicago area and country last week amid widespread outrage over the killing of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot several times after he used his cellphone to record Border Patrol officers conducting an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis.
Held just after noon, the walkout saw students from Amundsen High School in Lincoln Square, Mather High School in West Ridge, Northside College Prep in North Park and Roosevelt High School in Albany Park turn out to rally in solidarity with Minnesota and stand against the immigration crackdown.
“I’ve never felt more proud in my life,” said 16-year-old Amari Bell, who helped organize the walkout.
Bell, a junior at Mather High, was sitting in her Uptown bedroom last week when she read a news story about Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy who, while arriving home from preschool in Minnesota, was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas late last month.
Images of the boy — wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack — being surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers has sparked even more outcry about the Trump administration’s enforcement in Minnesota. The boy and his father were back in Minneapolis on Sunday after a federal judge recently ordered their release.
Mather High School students Amari Bell, from left, Angelique Guzmán and Emina Alikadic organize students from various North Side schools at River Park to rally during an anti-ICE walkout, on Feb. 2, 2026. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
When Bell saw what had happened, she was taken aback by how indiscriminate the arrest was, she said.
“My youngest sibling is older than this child,” she recalled thinking to herself. “That’s absurd. To me, that’s absolutely absurd. And I think it’s unjust.”
Spurred by her shock, Bell took to social media to ask if any of her classmates would be interested in a walkout in protest of ICE. Yes, her peers replied, and Bell soon connected with fellow student leaders to bring the action to fruition.
“A problem cannot be solved or addressed,” Bell said, “if it’s not acknowledged.”
North Side Ald. Andre Vásquez commended the students’ action.
“We’re watching a government suppress people’s voice,” he said. “It is inspiring to see the youth make sure that they are being heard and articulating theirs.”
Vásquez said students planned the event, but he helped as an “adult marshal” after a high school intern who works with his office informed him of the protest. He coordinated with police, helped find crossing guards and held up a loudspeaker, he said.
A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson, in a statement to the Tribune, said the district “remains committed to fostering learning environments that allow students to respectfully deliberate issues with evidence and an open mind — and safely participate in civic action.”
High school students from Chicago’s North Side, with assistance from Ald. Andre Vásquez, center holding speaker, gather at River Park to rally during an anti-ICE walkout, on Feb. 2, 2026. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
The spokesperson said the district allows for students to participate in planned civic actions — including walkouts or protests — for a period of time during the school day, per CPS guidance.
Whether or not they could participate, students were encouraged to wear red to school Monday to show solidarity, according to Angelique Guzmán, a senior at Mather High who also helped organize the walkout. She even heard about students making posters during class before they left to rally, Guzmán said.
“It truly … (was) empowering to see the youth really step up,” the 18-year-old said.
Guzmán said the “rage we have” has long been building.
“It frightens me how minorities are constantly overlooked in this country,” she said. “The systems of injustices, I think, are so deeply rooted in America (and) I have been victim to (them), and I know a lot of my classmates have been (victim to them, too).”
Chicago Tribune’s Jake Sheridan, Jason Wambsgans and The Associated Press contributed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/02/student-walkout-chicago/
