Hundreds of high school students walked out of their classes across Portland on Friday to protest an immigration enforcement crackdown nationwide, following the recent deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Student Protests in Portland
Students from McDaniel High School in Northeast Portland thronged the street in the early afternoon as they marched west in a light rain. Many carried signs that read “Stop ICE Terror Now” as they chanted “This is what democracy looks like!”
Across town, students from Roosevelt High School walked out and marched down North Lombard Street, mirroring actions across the Pacific Northwest and the country.
Roosevelt senior Jasmin Reyes-Contreras said, “We as students care about this issue. We as students care about the funding that’s going to ICE because this is impacting everybody. I mean there’s been students who’ve gotten their parents taken away who go to Roosevelt High School.”
Some school districts in Oregon are giving students unexcused absences for skipping school or walking out, including for protests. Unexcused absences can affect a student’s eligibility to participate in athletics and other activities.
McDaniel sophomore Viola DeVigal helped organize the rally at Glenhaven Park on Northeast 82nd Avenue. She, like many of her classmates, skipped school Friday to protest against deportations and violence involving federal officers in Minneapolis and around the country.
DeVigal said she was happy with the turnout and excited to see so many of her peers came out to support. “It was honestly a really meaningful experience to me,” she said. “I think it means so much to just see so much of my community and peers show up and show out to support each other and to support the community that is currently struggling.”
About 28% of McDaniel’s student body is Latino, and DeVigal said she’s heard from students afraid to come to school due to concerns about ICE agents detaining them en route.
“It hurts so much to see my community scared to come to school and just scared to be out,” she said.
Roosevelt sophomore Oscar Ribeiro said he’s heard of classmates whose family members have been “deported or attacked” by ICE.
Portland Public Schools announced that Friday would be treated as a normal school day, but leaders said they respect the rights of students to protest and speak out.
“We know that recent immigration enforcement actions have caused real harm and deep anxiety in many of our schools and neighborhoods, and we are fully committed to supporting and advocating for our immigrant staff, students, and families,” said PPS Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong in a message to families.
Businesses Join General Strike
Small businesses in the Pacific Northwest also weighed whether to close Friday in solidarity with the nationwide protest, with some in Portland saying they would close and others hesitant due to lost revenue in challenging economic times.
The loosely organized nationwide general strike has been promoted in recent weeks on websites and social media platforms.
Opposition to deportation efforts involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection has grown dramatically since the shooting deaths of Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis. Others have been killed or hurt by federal immigration agents across the country, including two people who were shot in East Portland on Jan. 8.
President Donald Trump has replaced the person leading detention efforts in Minneapolis, but many are pushing for the federal government to rein in the sometimes violent tactics of federal officers and take further steps to reduce immigration detentions and deportations. Protesters and business owners often rally around the simple mantra of “ICE out now.”
It’s already been a challenging year financially for brick-and-mortar businesses with expenses going up for many companies faster than revenue. On top of the economic challenges, many businesses have feared for the safety of their immigrant workers and others who could be targeted by immigration officials.
Portland business owners Polo Bañuelos and Carlos Reynoso were grappling with the decision of whether to close their vegan restaurant for the general strike. The owners asked their more than a dozen employees for input. The consensus was to shut down the Northeast Portland restaurant in protest of how immigrants and their allies are being treated by federal immigration officials.
“In solidarity, we also decided to close our business,” Bañuelos said. “We want to be able to participate, but this was a collective decision, because as a small business, closing is not easy. Many small businesses cannot afford to close. Their employees cannot afford to lose a day.”
Bañuelos and Reynoso started Mis Tacones a decade ago, first as a temporary pop-up offering Mexican American meals they enjoyed while living in Los Angeles. In 2022, the couple opened up a permanent brick-and-mortar location on Northeast Killingsworth Street.
“The community really liked what we were doing,” Bañuelos said. “We’ve always been ourselves, we’ve always been authentic.”
Bañuelos was born in the U.S. to immigrants from Mexico. Reynoso was born in Mexico before moving to the U.S. as a kid.
Reynoso said the pair has brought those experiences, along with the cultures they grew up in, to the community they’ve built in Portland.
The couple said they would spend Friday playing with their dogs and checking in with friends and relatives.
“Things feel so heavy, it feels so emotional,” Reynoso said. “I feel like the tagline of this time in history is ‘This is not normal.’ I’m old enough to say this isn’t normal. I was undocumented as a youth. I have various people in my family who have been deported in the past. The way things are done now — this is not normal.”
Staying Open to Support the Strike
Christine Azar thought about closing down her chocolate and coffee shop in support of the general strike, but decided on another route: donating part of her proceeds to support small businesses in Minneapolis.
“I stand in solidarity with everyone that’s doing it,” she said of businesses closing for the strike. “I support it – but I also want to make sure that I am sending my money where it’s worthwhile.”
Azar Indulgences will send some of Friday’s proceeds to Minnesota, along with a share of money taken in on Saturday and Sunday. If it goes well, Azar might continue the process through her busy month of February.
Speaking on Friday during the protests, Azar said people had been dropping into her shop after learning of the plan to donate her proceeds.
“I haven’t been to the store today, so I’m not entirely sure, I know it’s not insanely busy,” she said. “But we’ve had a few people come in that know I’m donating, and said they’ve come in because of that.”
The chocolatier was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in the 1980s during the country’s civil war. Her family fled to Syria when she was 5, and again to Canada when she was 9.
Azar moved to the U.S. in 2001. At first, she worked in banking. But after an inspiring visit with her grandma, she pivoted to chocolate, with her uncle in Lebanon as her supplier. Azar Indulgences opened in 2015, specializing in Lebanese chocolate made in the style of Belgian chocolate.
Azar said she was upset watching protesters being shot and killed in Minnesota.
“It’s a very scary time and it makes no sense,” she said. “This doesn’t make any sense at all because it’s designed to just harm people, whether it’s people that are in the immigrant community, [or] whether it’s those business owners that are employing people that are immigrants.”
Azar employs three other people at her shop inside downtown Portland’s Heathman Hotel. While she supports the strike, she said if she closed down it would mean cutting hours for one of those employees.
The general strike is an action against larger corporations in Azar’s mind, because they can have more influence on federal immigration policy.
“I feel like small businesses like mine are invested in our community,” she said while cleaning off an espresso machine. “We’re the solution, not the problem.”
Discover more from Archyworldys
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
