DETROIT—A wave of anger and mobilization is sweeping through Detroit following the detention of two 16-year-old high school students and their families by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week. The teens, asylum seekers from Venezuela, were seized from their home in an early morning raid, which ignited condemnation from teachers, students, and immigrant rights organizations, who are all demanding their immediate release.
The students, cousins who are active members of the Western International High School community, were detained along with two of their parents on the morning of Thursday, November 20. According to the teachers, ICE agents were searching for a different migrant when they encountered the Venezuelan family. The entire group was first taken to a local detention center before being transferred to a federal facility in Texas.
“ICE kidnapped two of our Western students while they were at home with their families. ICE wasn’t there for them. ICE wasn’t even seeking them out. Yet, they were rounded up and shipped off to Texas,” said Frank Espinosa, an English and Social Studies teacher at the school.
This incident marks at least the second and third Detroit students detained by federal immigration authorities this year, following the arrest and deportation of 18-year-old Maykol Bogoya-Duarte from the same high school last spring. Community members report that a climate of fear is intensifying, with around 50 students in Detroit schools having had family members taken into ICE custody since January. This has all led to increased absenteeism in schools with large immigrant populations.
In rapid response, students organized a solidarity rally on Tuesday outside Western International High School in Southwest Detroit. Chants of “ICE must go! Trump must go!” echoed through the streets as school let out and students joined the growing demonstration.
The rally featured a coalition of community members, organized labor, and political figures, all united in condemning the deportations and the terror campaign waged by the fascistic Trump administration against immigrants. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and State Rep. Stephanie Chang were both present at the demonstration. “I’m just here today as a pissed off American,” Tlaib told People’s World.
The personal impact of the ICE raids was voiced by students themselves. Valerie Brown, a senior at Western International and one of the rally’s lead youth organizers, explained the pervasive fear among her peers. “They’re scared to come to school,” Brown told People’s World. “They’ve heard the stories that they’re taking kids with or without papers, as long as you speak Spanish, you’re a target.”
“It’s tough when on the way to school, the buses, how are they safe there?” she continued. “It directly affects us. We are the recipients of this political system. If we don’t stand up, who will?”
Omar Santana, a construction worker, veteran, and member of the Communist Party USA, spoke at the demonstration on behalf of the Detroit People’s Assembly. “Every single one of you here today has felt the wrath and the overreaching arm of this administration,” Santana stated, connecting the detentions to broader attacks on education, civil rights, and the working class more broadly.
“This society is not what it claims to be when millions live in poverty, endless debt, and fear, and very few hoard all the wealth and resources of this planet,” he told the crowd. “Your classmates deserve to still be here in class with you all and not in a detention cell. I want to let you know that the building trades have your back!”
Raul Zamarron, a member of the Bricklayers Union and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), emphasized the essential role of organized labor in the fight. “We support the greater good of the working class and not simply the individual,” Zamarron told People’s World.
“This demonstration against deportations is for the greater good,” he continued. “The only voice that we have is the numbers that we have in order to organize. If we don’t organize, we don’t stand up for each other, then who’s going to stand up for us?”
Speaking on demands presented to the Detroit School Board, teacher Frank Espinosa outlined a concrete plan for a true sanctuary district: “We need to train our students with ‘know-your-rights’ training, led by legal experts…” We need to expand our sanctuary district policies… We need an immigration lawyer on retainer by the district… We need a dedicated school counselor able to help students who have been locked up or who have had their friends kidnapped.”
This sentiment was echoed by Lindsey Matson, Deputy Director of Youth Organizing at 482Forward, who said, “Immigration justice is a part of education justice. Students, parents, and educators all need to feel safe to go to school, to go to work, and to live their lives in peace.”
While the Detroit Public Schools Community District has stated it does not cooperate with ICE and forbids agents from entering schools without a warrant, community groups are pressing for stronger protections and guarantees of safety for students on or off school grounds. The three known detainments of students all occurred either during a traffic stop or in their own homes.
The Detroit People’s Assembly and 482Forward, with leadership from local youth, are in the process of securing legal representation for the detained family and continue to organize for their release.
“A family who sought refuge should not be met with detention,” said Pauli Astudillo of the Detroit People’s Assembly. “We call on DPSCD leadership and the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) to stand publicly with these students and their family, demand their release, and ensure immigrant students know they are safe and supported.”
The message from the community was that the fight for these students’ return is part of a larger class struggle. As the rally concluded, the demands extended to City Hall, with Molly Sweeney of the Invest in MI Kids Coalition insisting that incoming Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield “needs a plan in place on January 1 to make sure no resident, asylum seeker or not, is deported.”
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