New Orleans, LA — On January 20, students from Benjamin Franklin High School organized a walkout and rally of more than 400 of their classmates to resist the escalating violations of civil and human rights by ICE. Chants that “ICE Gestapo has got to go!” echoed through the fields of the campuses of Ben Franklin and the neighboring University of New Orleans.

The rally was organized by Students for Resistance, a new group of high school students across the New Orleans area. A senior at Ben Franklin who is a Students for Resistance organizer said they came out to, “demonstrate to New Orleans, to Donald Trump, and to the USA that students at Benjamin Franklin High School do not stand with the fascist regime that is rising” and that they “stand with immigrant neighbors.”

Also in attendance at the rally were members of Students for a Democratic Society from Loyola and Tulane Universities. SDS spoke in solidarity with the high school students organizing against the reactionary Trump regime.

Rosalina Framboise, a Loyola student and SDS member, said in a solidarity speech, “Students at all levels have a fire in us, and we need to continue to dare to struggle to the fullest extent of our capacities!”

From Minneapolis to New Orleans, these large demonstrations show that the second Trump administration’s racist policies will continue to be resisted, and that people from all backgrounds will continue to show up to protest them.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #HighSchool #SDS