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Amid a national day of protest against ICE, on Friday, crowds of students in the Midpeninsula took to the streets and sidewalks, walking out of schools and gathering in Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos.
Jan. 30 saw thousands of students across the country participate in student walkouts. Protesters called for a “National Shutdown,” encouraging people to stop funding ICE with no work, school or shopping for the day.
Mountain View, Palo Alto and Los Altos students join nationwide walkout
Students from Saint Francis, Mountain View and Los Altos high schools organized schoolwide walkouts on Friday, bringing together young protesters at Mountain View City Hall and downtown Los Altos. And in Palo Alto, hundreds of Gunn High School and Palo Alto High School students walked out at noon, with Paly students marching with signs at the prominent intersection of El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road.
Through social media and word of mouth, Saint Francis High School students were able to organize a walkout of more than 500 people, according to senior Chase Corso, who helped put together an Instagram account Thursday night, urging his fellow private school students to join the protest. In less than 24 hours, the account’s Instagram stories announcing the walkout had gained nearly 2,000 views.
Students gathered on campus in the quad during the break after first period classes and walked to Cuesta Park, holding signs that read “Fund education, not deportation,” “The wrong ICE is melting,” and “Democracy needs your courage.” From there, they headed to Mountain View’s City Hall, where Corso gave a speech to students about his feelings surrounding the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity across the nation.
“I have sat by and watched my neighbors, my friends and strangers taken from our communities without due process, and I am done,” Corso said through a megaphone, garnering cheers from fellow students.
Though he was originally hesitant to organize and participate in Friday’s walkout out of fear of getting in trouble, Corso told this publication afterward that he wanted to do something to make a difference for a cause he cares about.
“Truthfully, I’m really angry,” Corso said. “When you see your civil liberties and your civil rights being challenged in a day-to-day fashion, such as that they are in Minneapolis and other areas in our country, I get really nervous, and I want to share my beliefs.”
Similarly, students at Mountain View High School walked out of class on Friday. Roughly 600 students marched to downtown Mountain View “to exercise their constitutional rights to assemble and protest peacefully,” Principal Kip Glazer wrote in a schoolwide newsletter. School- and district-level administrators accompanied the students to ensure their safety, Glazer said.
“I want to express my profound gratitude to our Spartans for obeying the law and being so respectful,” Glazer wrote. “It is truly an honor and a privilege to be the principal of Mountain View High School.”
At Los Altos High School, what started as a small Instagram account encouraging students to participate in a walkout on Friday turned into a crowd of more than 200 students walking toward downtown Los Altos.
As students strolled the streets surrounding the school, holding signs and chanting, people passing by in cars honked in solidarity. The three sophomore organizers of the walkout, Lara Tait, Tilly Burgart and Valerie Zhou, told this publication that it was great to see their fellow students come together for a cause they care about.
“People prepared speeches and poems, and it made me feel like this was really a cause worth pursuing,” Burgart said.
The trio was surprised by the turnout, especially given how quickly they put the protest together. They decided on Wednesday that instead of not attending school at all in solidarity with the nationwide blackout effort, they would organize the walkout, Tait said. She added that it’s important for youth like herself to speak up for what they believe in because they are the future.
Sequoia protesters walk miles for student walkout
Downtown Redwood City was teeming with over 1,000 students from Midpeninsula high schools and middle school students midday on Friday. Honking horns, cheers and chanting echoed through the streets as students yelled “Sí se puede” (Yes we can) and “The people united will never be divided.”
Students across the Sequoia Union High School District organized the protest, bringing together communities from Menlo-Atherton, Woodside, Sequoia, Carlmont, Summit Prep and Atherton private school Sacred Heart Preparatory. Middle school students from North Star Academy and Kennedy Middle School in Redwood City also participated in the walkout.
Some students set out as early as 9:30 a.m., walking for over an hour from their campuses to join their peers from other high schools at Courthouse Square in Redwood City.
Students held signs that read “Fight ignorance, not immigrants,” and “Education not deportation.” The Mexican flag was a prevalent symbol throughout the protest, with many people wearing it over their shoulders and waving it over the crowd. Fireworks were seen in front of the Redwood City Public Library.
“I’m feeling disappointed in our country right now, because since Trump became president, everything has gone to ruins, and it’s affecting all of us,” said Antonio, a Woodside High student organizer. “Not only Latinos, but also other people of color, and also even their own people, the white people. That is not right.”
Woodside High School senior Kha’mora Yoshimoto waves a Mexican flag during a student-led protest against ICE’s immigration crackdown near the San Mateo County courthouse in Redwood City on Jan. 30, 2026. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
A person waves a Mexican flag from a car driving through a student-led protest against lCE’s immigration crackdown near the San Mateo County History Museum in Redwood City on Jan. 30, 2026. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Local students march past the Fox Theatre during a protest against lCE’s immigration crackdown in Redwood City on Jan. 30, 2026. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Woodside High School senior Dana Morones cheers during a student-led protest against lCE’s immigration crackdown near the San Mateo County History Museum in Redwood City on Jan. 30, 2026. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
Antonio said he connected with his friends and peers throughout the area to plan the districtwide protest. Information about the student walkout was shared through social media accounts.
“I’m really angered, because I feel like my own people have dealt with so much since we’ve come here and tried to show others that we are good people,” said Nepertytie, a student organizer and Menlo-Atherton student.
One Woodside student shared that their undocumented parents are afraid to go outside due to the risk of getting deported.
Some middle schoolers who joined the walkout said it marks their first time getting involved in a local protest.
Meena, a North Star Academy student, said she had heard about the current political climate from her parents and from reading a kid-friendly newspaper. On a page in her notebook, she wrote, “Skipping our lesson to teach you one,” with a gray marker.
“I don’t like how they’re telling people that they can’t be in the U.S. just because they’re a different race or have a different skin color, it’s just not fair,” she said.
Middle schoolers Octavia, Marla and Kaya said they hope their presence at the protest will make an impact and push for change. Students said that some of their teachers encouraged them to participate and have had discussions with their classes about how to stay safe during a public demonstration.
Although one student said that a teacher explained how protests are ineffective, 11-year-old River responded with, “I think that’s not true.”
“Our generation should be coming out, because they are our future and it all depends on them,” said Antonio. “If we let the older generations control what we do and mess everything up, I don’t think most of us are gonna be in this country anymore.”
Students were permitted to participate in the walkout under district policies that ensure students the right to protest. However, school leaders let parents know that once their children step off school grounds, they should be aware of the potential risks.
The Sequoia Union High School District’s board policy states that “students have a legal right to participate in walkouts or protests and district staff may not prevent them from leaving campus for that reason.” Local middle schoolers from North Star Academy and Kennedy Middle School also participated in the walkout with permission from the school’s principal, said a parent.
Sequoia High students were briefly delayed from joining other schools in Downtown Redwood City after a secure campus order was put into place by campus officials, following a reported bomb threat that the Redwood City police later deemed not credible and likely tied to a doxxing call.
