Students across 50 states walked out of class Friday protesting federal agents who arrested MS-13 gang members, child rapists, and a man with 24 criminal convictions. They called it terrorism.
“We have arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced January 19. Operation Metro Surge targeted the Twin Cities with 2,000 federal agents starting December 1, expanding to all of Minnesota. The arrests included Yang Koua Moua, convicted of homicide and robbery, an admitted “Oriental Lo” gang member. Sahal Osman Shidane, convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor aged 13-15. Jose Miguel Reyes Jovel, MS-13 gang member convicted of homicide and drug trafficking. Brian Anjain racked up 24 convictions including assault, domestic abuse, and theft.
Students walked out anyway. Sacramento. Austin. San Antonio. San Jose. Phoenix. Concord. Providence. Hundreds at each location, thousands nationwide, chanting “ICE out now” and “No justice, no peace.”
“We want to show our solidarity for people in Minneapolis, but also we want to show solidarity for the students in our school who are afraid,” Sacramento student Louis Russell told reporters before the walkout. Rhode Island student organizer Wen Shi said students are motivated by protesting “the amount of people who have died or been deported or detained and all the things by ICE that we don’t even know the names of.”
Adult organizer Weayonnah Nalson-Davis framed federal enforcement as “kidnapping people without due process” and “terrorizing and traumatizing all communities.” The communities where Yang Koua Moua committed homicide apparently face the same terror as communities where federal agents removed him.
The “National Shutdown” organizers created a student walkout guide encouraging recruitment of “the largest number of students and teachers possible.” The guide included advice for developing flyers, coordinating with other students, and meeting with school administrators. Schools universally stated they don’t endorse protests but respect First Amendment rights. Students received unexcused absences. No district prevented the walkouts.
DHS documented specific arrests in official press releases. Tze Thao, convicted of homicide. Arnoldo Jose Hernandez-Perez, convicted of sexual assault. Multiple convicted domestic abusers. Multiple gang members. Secretary Noem’s January 19 statement specified 3,000 arrests in the prior six weeks included “vicious murderers, rapists, child pedophiles, and incredibly dangerous individuals.”
Federal agents shot Renee Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24, both American citizens, both in Minneapolis. Good died when ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired three shots as her vehicle passed him. Pretti, a VA ICU nurse, died when Border Patrol agents shot him while he filmed their confrontation with protesters. Both shootings sparked protests and ongoing investigations.
The walkout guide made no distinction between these incidents and the arrest of MS-13 gang member Jose Miguel Reyes Jovel. Organizers framed all enforcement as terror. Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to leave Minneapolis while Minnesota released 470 criminal illegal aliens from state custody rather than honor ICE detainers.
The National Shutdown occurred as Congress debated Homeland Security funding. Organizers timed the general strike to pressure legislators to defund operations removing what DHS called “the worst of the worst” from American neighborhoods.
Schools that acknowledged student First Amendment rights and provided walkout safety protocols taught organizing without analysis. Students learned to coordinate collective action, file event permits, and recruit participants. They didn’t learn to distinguish between enforcement methods that kill bystanders and enforcement targets who rape children. The educational system that claims critical thinking as its mission sent students into streets chanting against the arrest of a man with 24 criminal convictions without teaching them to ask what those convictions were.
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