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More than 100 student protesters marched through Mountain View on Wednesday with a clear message: the immigrant community — documented or not — needs to be protected, even if it means fighting President Donald Trump’s administration every step of the way.
The student march, which began at Los Altos High School and ended with a rally at Eagle Park, was a direct rebuke to an announcement earlier this month by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Obama-era policy granted temporary legal status and work permits to some 800,000 U.S. residents who were brought to the country illegally as children, an estimated 24,000 of whom live here in Santa Clara County.
Los Altos high teens and school staff marched together holding flags and signs that read “education not deportation” and “we stand with Dreamers,” all while chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
“America is so much better than what we’ve seen over the last six months,” said Los Altos high teacher Jonathan Kwan, describing what he called attacks on the country’s vulnerable immigrant communities. While the rally focused on DACA, protesters frequently condemned rhetoric Trump used on the campaign trail last year — calling illegal immigrants from Mexico drug peddlers, criminals and rapists — as well as executive orders blocking travel from majority Muslim countries. “This is not a black issue or a brown issue. This is an American issue,” Kwan said.
Los Altos sophomore Jacky Ramirez, who wore a Mexican flag draped over her shoulders while she spoke, said she was overwhelmed by the huge outpouring of support from the school. She said her parents came a long way to get her here, and worked hard to provide her with food and a good education. She said she would vow to stand against negativity against people of color.
Dalia Gamez, a teacher at Los Altos High School, said she made it to where she is today because of DACA. It always felt like she needed to work three times as hard to accomplish her goals without legal status, she said, and the federal program finally opened the door for her to be successful and thrive.
“This is the permit that made it possible to accomplish my dreams,” she said.
When the news came down from the Trump administration earlier this month that DACA would be terminated after a six month delay — and no guarantee that the protections would be upheld by Congress — she said it was heartbreaking.
“I felt the blood in my body — everything — just fall to the floor,” she said. “I felt crushed.”
Los Altos counselor Ariel Rojas said his journey into the United States as a young immigrant with no resources shouldn’t be seen as an immigration problem — he should be seen as the embodiment of the American dream. He recalled fleeing from violence in Nicaragua, traveling to Mexico, and eventually crossing the border into Texas. It took him five days of walking through desert, he said, before he was able to reach Houston, he said, and since them he was able to forge a successful life with a good job, a home and a family through hard work.
Although the American government is largely to blame for the conflicts in Central America that forced him to flee, he said he doesn’t harbor any ill-will for the people in the country. What the government does, he said, isn’t a reflection on the citizens.
“I know America is better than that,” he said. “This is the greatest country on earth.”
Though the protest was not an official event hosted by Los Altos High School, local school districts have adopted a firm stance against a repeal of DACA. Mountain View-Los Altos High School District Superintendent Jeff Harding denounced President Trump’s decision to suspend the program in a statement earlier this month, and said the district’s campuses are a safe place for all students, regardless of citizenship and immigration status.
Last week, the Mountain View Whisman School District’s board of trustees took a similar stand, unanimously approving a resolution calling on Congress to enact legislation to continue the existing DACA program “at a minimum,” and provide DACA recipients with a pathway to permanent residence and U.S. citizenship. Although the district does not have any DACA recipients enrolled, families of students as well as staff members are affected by the loss of DACA protections, according to district staff.
The event was organized and emceed by Los Altos High School teacher Seth Donnelly, who in past years has helped facilitate marches against police brutality and racism. He encouraged students at the Wednesday rally to stay politically active, organize and make an effort to “transform” society for peace and justice.
“Nothing changes until we change,” he said.
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Tom Cruise stars in “American Made.” Photo by David James, courtesy of Universal Pictures. -
Tom Cruise stars in “American Made.” Photo by David James, courtesy of Universal Pictures. -
People walk past the Mountain View Whisman School District office. Voice file photo by Michelle Le -
The proposed Bayside Visual Approach (green line on this map) that Surf Air has been using when weather and air traffic conditions allow, has eased Midpeninsula residents’ noise complaints but drawn the ire of Sunnyvale and Cupertino residents. The red line is the GPS approach the airline uses at other times. (Graphic by Kristin Brown/The Almanac.) -
Students and staff from Graham Middle School marched through downtown Mountain View on Friday, Sept. 29, in support of DACA and immigrants. Photo by Stephanie Lee -
Students and staff from Graham Middle School marched through downtown Mountain View on Friday, Sept. 29, in support of DACA and immigrants. Photo by Stephanie Lee -
Students and staff from Graham Middle School marched through downtown Mountain View on Friday, Sept. 29, in support of DACA and immigrants. Photo by Stephanie Lee -
Students and staff from Graham Middle School marched through downtown Mountain View on Friday, Sept. 29, in support of DACA and immigrants. Photo by Stephanie Lee
Sea lion found on Mountain View street returns to ocean after months of recoveryMarch 28, 2026 9:12 am
The students don’t know the facts. What I find most interesting is the all out BLITZ by the Democrats, MSM, every faculty member at any university in the country fighting to the death for illegal aliens? yes they put a warm and fuzzy name on it “DACA.” and no one seem to wonder why? future voters? can you imagine the Democrats ever being this interested or motivated in issues involving citizens! There is an estimated 800,000 DACA recipients in the US. That is 800,000 jobs American Citizens don’t have or will be in competition for.
The MSM and Democrats would have us believe that all 800 thousand are not taking jobs Americans want (we’ve heard that lie for many years now.) This is another falsehood told to the American people (like the lie there just ‘Kids”) there not all picking strawberries they take great Jobs. Good enough jobs to buy homes Good enough jobs to buy homes, put their kids through college Why must the citizens have competition for jobs, education in their own country from foreign nationals? Now Democrats and illegal alien activists admit DACA recipients have great jobs,are buying homes, paying taxes.
The GOAL (Democrats just haven’t figured this out yet) is for the American citizens to be employed, sending their kids to college, buying homes and paying taxes. It’s not the responsibility of the citizens of this country to support, educate citizens from other country’s.Deportation will save jobs and decrease the expense of illegal aliens. There is also an incredible public safety issues.
The costs of illegal immigration.
* The cost of educating illegal aliens children is staggering. From K-12 it costs taxpayers $122,000 for EACH illegal alien. That is not even counting the FREE school lunches every day for 13 years.
* Now city, and state officials are appropriating millions of taxpayer dollars for legal fees to to file law suits and in defense of illegal aliens being deported.
*2012 illegal aliens sent home $62 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. This is why Mexico is getting involved in our politics.
*30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. Does not include local jails and State Prisons. At 21,000 per year expense per inmate in Federal Prison—U do the math.
*$3Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens, I repeat 3 MILLION a DAY to process Illegals in the Criminal justice system.
*$2.2Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as SNAP (food stamps),WIC, & free school lunches.T
the ones putting and orchestrating these events are to blame, but also are the kids following these leaders. I’m Mexican American and have lived here all my life. The kids should understand what the truth is, read The Presidents tweets if you have too.
The shameless event last week with Nancy Polosi opened my eyes even more as to what they will listen to and from who they choose to listen to it from. THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO REASON OR ARE INTERESTED IN HAVING A DIALOGUE. They want only one thing and that is “MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY”
Don’t doubt this will be deleted from this fair and balanced Mountain View Voice
Thank you to the staff of LAHS who support our children even on your “own” time. When my daughter was at LAHS and was struggling with health issues, her French teacher offered to come to our home to make sure she could keep up. His words “whatever I can do” literally brought me to tears. You all are the best!
Great to read that high school students are speaking up. Students should, of course, choose their positions thoughtfully.
Not everyone is “welcome here.” Not Russian spies. Not North Korean soldiers. Not Saudi terrorists. Not violent criminals deported by Cuba.
There are over 6 billion persons in the world. How many should move here? All of them?
I dunno, Gary, but I’ll take all these kids and toss you out, and consider it a net positive. We’ll worry about the numbers later.
@LOL The fact that you “dunmo” much does not discourage you from posting nonsense. The world is closing in. North Korea is led by lunatics who can plant an H-bomb at Los Altos High School. An ICBM is not needed. FedEx might well deliver it for them unwittingly. Amazon plans to deliver packages with drones. Any foreign regime could fly drones labeled “Amazon.” We have a President compromised by Putin and incapable of determining when or what to say. Keep laughing out loud – if that helps you. But just laughing will not save this area, this country or this planet. Don’t die in your intellectual sleep.
Gary, if you’re going to attempt to denigrate someone else for posting quality, try to actually spell things correctly. Usually when you’re quoting someone else, you actually use the same word.
As for the rest of your content, I stand by my choice to keep these kids while kicking out the old crank rambling about North Korea nuking a high school.
As a mother of two 9th graders that participated in the march, I could not have been prouder. My daughters came back to their home in Los Altos, and thoughtfully had a conversation with me about the lack of other Caucasian students participating, including their friends, and shared that “these dreamers are kids we go to school with every day” and there were not nearly enough students taking part in this opportunity! When it was club sign up day “One Dollar for Life” had kids waiting in line to sign up that stretched a block long. I would argue that people need to teach their kids EMPATHY, and that it is a very real crisis at the moment here at home. Families around here are spending $25K to go on a family trip to Kenya for safari and school building so that their kids learn how “good they have it.” Yet they have taught them they can’t miss the math tutor or soccer practice for something as important as teaching their kids to show up or be good, inclusive people. For GARY… I would say that his literal interpretation of the sign of one student – should more resonate with Lady Liberty’s sign “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Protests are great. But figure out what you stand for – not just against. As to Mr. Lol who “dunno” what to say, keep dreaming about a world beyond our borders with no criminals, no enemies, no threats to America. Dreaming and LOL.
“If you can be orange, we can be brown.” Seriously? This is the best that MVLA School District social studies and language arts has to offer?
That is exactly the type of personal attacks and body shaming that the left is constantly decrying as harmful to political discourse and national dialogs… blah, blah, blah. Illegal immigration, and what to do with the children of people who broke our immigration laws, is a complicated subject.
If students want to protest in favor of open borders or rewarding those who break our immigration laws- it should be done with facts, not nasty, disrespectful comments.
Once again we see the same misinformation. Those who are against illegal immigration do not think that all illegal immigrants are “drug peddlers, criminals and rapists”. The repeated charge that the President’s travel ban is “blocking travel from majority Muslim countries” is misleading and disingenuous. The ban has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the fact that the countries are major sponsors of terrorism, or have failed/weak governments that are so bad that the documents they provide for international travel cannot be trusted as identified by the Obama administration:
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The travel part of Trump’s order does target the same seven countries that were singled out with a law Obama signed in December 2015.
The Obama-signed law contains provisions that restrict travel to the United States for people who lived in or visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria since March 2011. They must have a visa to enter the United States; they can’t use what is known as the Visa Waiver Program, which allows 90-day U.S. visits to other foreign visitors.
The law was soon expanded by Obama’s Department of Homeland Security to cover Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. They were identified in the agency’s announcement as “countries of concern,” a phrase used in the law.
__________________
I can’t seem to remember the same amount of race-baiting, panic, and vitriol when Obama signed his law into effect.
Getting back to immigration, I still have not heard or read a rational explanation why the United States should be the only country in the world that does not have a border or should refuse to secure it. The idea that anyone should be allowed to come into the country at any time for any reason is ridiculous on the face of it. We have far more security at the airports for people already in the US, than we have at the borders! What sense does that make?
Requiring that people obey the law is not hate, it’s common sense. I welcome everyone into my house, ….. AFTER I know who they are. It would be stupid for me to leave my door wide open all the time so that anyone can just walk in whenever they want. Sure 999 of 1000 people might be terrific, but what about the 1 in 1000 who isn’t? Should I risk the safety of the others who live in my house because ‘most people are good people’?
Let’s take a look at Mexico’s immigration laws:
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Mexico welcomes only foreigners who will be useful to Mexican society. Immigration officials must “ensure” that “immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance” (Article 34).
Article 37 says foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets “the equilibrium of the national demographics.”
• Mexican authorities must keep track of every single person in the country. Article 73 says federal, local and municipal police must cooperate with immigration authorities in assisting with the arrest of illegal immigrants.
• Foreigners with fake papers, or who enter the country under false pretenses, may be imprisoned (Article 116).
• Foreigners who fail to obey the rules will be fined, deported and/or imprisoned as felons (Article 117).
• Illegal immigration is a felony (Articles 123, 125).
• Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals under the law. For example, a Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison (Article 127).
Here’s what the Mexican Constitution also says:
• Non-citizens cannot participate in the country’s political life (Article 33). Non-citizens are also forbidden to participate in demonstrations or express opinions in public about domestic politics.
• There are no equal employment rights to immigrants, even legal ones, in the public sector (Article 32).
• Fundamental property rights are denied to foreigners. Article 27 states: “Only Mexicans by birth or naturalization and Mexican companies have the right to acquire ownership of lands, waters and their appurtenances, or to obtain concessions for the exploitation of mines or of waters….”
• An immigrant who becomes a naturalized Mexican citizen can be stripped of his Mexican citizenship if he lives again in the country of his origin for more than five years (Article 37).
• Foreigners may be expelled for any reason and without due process. According to Article 33: “The Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.”
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I wonder how people would respond if the President were to try to adopt Mexico’s immigration policy? I’m betting the words xenophobe, racist, bigot, heartless, and unconstitutional would be thrown around and the media would be leading the charge to have him impeached.
Jim Neal
Old Mountain View