Students at Savannah area high schools walk out to protest ICE enforcement

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Students at two Savannah-area high schools walked out of classes today to protest immigration enforcement efforts happening in cities across the country.

Students from Savannah Arts Academy and Windsor Forest High School left their classes to speak out against ICE operations, with demonstrators chanting their opposition to immigration enforcement.

At Savannah Arts Academy, students marched out of their classes to fight for a cause they don’t believe is right.

“Keep ICE out of Savannah, we don’t want any of your business,” said Max Berinato, a student at Savannah Arts Academy.

Lupita Carrillo-Trujillo, a student at Savannah Arts Academy, said the cause hits close to home for her.

“Yes there are criminals but not everyone of dark colored skin, different ethnicity, and anyone who speaks a different language, does not make them a criminal,” Carrillo-Trujillo said.

“As a first generation Mexican-American I strongly believe it is very important for not just Hispanics but all people over to be able to talk about all this that has been going on,” Carrillo-Trujillo said. “Everyone that has been affected by it, the families that have been torn apart, and honestly being able to like voice our concerns, to not just students but adults all over.”

Students from Windsor Forest High School left their classes early this afternoon and marched to a parking lot with their signs raised.

“We should be able to have the right to have families stay together, for children to go to school, without being taken away and basically held hostage,” said Kari Rivero, a student at Windsor Forest High School.

SCCPSS provided a comment on today’s planned walk out activities to WTOC, which you can read in full below:

We support students exercising their First Amendments Rights.

Additionally, we are committed to the safety of our students and staff and to maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment.

We have been notified that some high school students may want to express their right to peacefully assemble to bring awareness to some national issues.

While this type of activity is not a District sanctioned or sponsored event, we will work with students to offer guidance in the spirit of safety and to minimize disruption to the greatest extent possible.

Savannah-Chatham Public School System