EDGEWOOD, Md. — Would-be guards with walkie-talkies posted outside the school and staff members closing off the exits inside, try as they may, administrators couldn’t stop students at Edgewood High School from walking out for an anti-ICE rally even with a system-wide last-minute decision to close school three hours early purportedly because of impending snow.
“There’s no snow falling down, “They didn’t want us to protest,” one student told us.
The march here, like others around the country, pushed back on ICE, but there’s far more at stake for students at one of Harford County’s most diverse schools.
Bid to stop protests in Harford County falls short
“I’m first generation. My parents were immigrants and it’s not fair,” a student shared with us who we’ll call ‘Pam’ to protect her family from scrutiny, “I want to make a difference and somebody like my mother deserves to stay in a country where she worked so hard to be in and I want to make a difference too and being a first generation.”
“How long has your mother been here,” we asked.
“Almost 20 years.”
Even some of the students who didn’t want to risk the repercussions of challenging school policy share some of the same concerns as the protestors.
Whether it’s the policies that allowed so many in only to force them out.
“We are a country that is built off of immigrants and to say that we shouldn’t have immigrants is simply just wrong,” one student said.
Or the casualties, which have come with stepped up enforcement.
“I feel like it’s very violent and nothing should be that violent no matter what it is.”
Heartfelt opinions held by people too young to cast their first vote, but old enough to know what’s at stake.
“I believe my mom hasn’t done anything wrong like many other immigrant parents and any other immigrant,” said ‘Pam’, “We’ve done nothing wrong. We deserve a place to stay. Somewhere where we feel safe.”
