200 Ocean View High students walk out to protest Trump’s decision to end DACA
About 200 students marched out of their classrooms Thursday morning at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach to protest President Trump’s decision to phase out a program that has protected many young immigrants from deportation.
The teenagers gathered at the school sign at the corner of Gothard Street and Warner Avenue at about 10 a.m. to call attention to the planned dissolution of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed about 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children to be shielded from deportation and be eligible for work permits. DACA was initiated in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama.
Students held signs that read “Everyone deserves the right to live their best lives” and “Break walls, not dreams.”
They chanted “D-A-C-A, we will fight for you to stay.”
Many motorists passing through the busy intersection honked their car horns, provoking cheers from the protesters.
Cindy Robles, a 16-year-old junior, said the issue is important to her because she has friends who were in the DACA program and she fears their deportation. This was her first protest, she said.
Jake Volo, a 17-year-old senior, said he was participating to “stand up for his Hispanic brothers and sisters.”
“They are serving our society positively,” he said of the DACA participants, known as “Dreamers.” “Trump made the wrong decision.”
About a dozen school administrators were outside monitoring the situation.
A school administrator said by phone that Principal Courtney Robinson was not willing to comment about the protest.
Since Trump’s plan to end DACA after six months was announced Tuesday, there have been widespread student walkouts and protests around the nation.
On Wednesday, Trump endorsed a congressional fix that could put the young immigrants on the path to legal status.
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