Santa Maria High School students walk out to protest ICE after assault on disabled student

Santa Maria High School students walked out of class on Friday afternoon to protest the alleged assault of one of their classmates by ICE agents, as well as ongoing federal immigration enforcement throughout the city. 

Students chanted “ICE out,” and held up signs while walking from campus to the Santa Maria City Hall on the corner of Broadway and Cook Street.

“It’s scary thinking that there’s people out there that could take my parent away from me,” said Adan Gomez, senior at Santa Maria High School. “Just for her wanting to buy some groceries or her wanting to just go to the store.”  

A student with disabilities from Santa Maria High School was allegedly tackled by ICE agents on his way to school on Oct. 21. He was left with bruises, lacerations and a broken wrist that required surgery after the federal agents determined they had detained the wrong person, letting the student go. 

School administrators confirmed the student was injured by federal immigration enforcement and taken to the hospital after he arrived at school that same morning. 

An ICE spokesperson denied the student sustained any broken bones during the encounter, and said the student had matched the description of someone the agency was targeting that day.

“It just goes to show it could happen to anyone,” Gomez said. “At this point it feels like they don’t really care about you being documented or not, it just feels like if you fit the description then you should be gone.”

Gomez added that he knows friends at school whose uncles have been taken by ICE in Santa Maria.   

A few dozen students turned out for the event on Friday, garnering honks, engine revving and shouts of support from people driving by. Volunteers for 805 UndocuFund showed up to lead the students in chants. 

Santa Maria councilwoman Gloria Soto was also in attendance, along with volunteers from Future Leaders of America — an organization for youth development led by Soto. 

“What I keep hearing over and over again is this sense of uncertainty looming over families,” Soto said.

Soto said she wants ICE to stop racial profiling people. She added that she wants to work with the rest of her council members in Santa Maria to draft a response to the federal immigration enforcement happening in the city. 

“If this is not enough to move my colleagues, I don’t know what is,” said Soto, pointing to the group of students protesting in front of her. 

Suleimy Sanchez, a freshman, heard about the protest through social media. She said many parents of students are starting to get scared of going out. 

“Before they didn’t really care,” Sanchez said. “But now they’re saying, ‘I can’t go out,’ or they’re scared to go out.”

The event drew some counter protesters, including one person who threw a plate of food from their car at a student and another woman who taunted the students while waiting for the light. 

Another person attempted to put up Steve Hilton signs, the Republican candidate running for California governor, in front of protesters before leaving with the signage.

“Recent immigration enforcement activity in the community reportedly prompted a large group of students to leave Santa Maria High School this afternoon to participate in an off-campus protest,” said Kenny Klein, public information officer for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. “Police are investigating reports of alleged incidents between adults and students at or near the protest location.”

Assistant Principal Elizabeth Cortez of Santa Maria High School was called out around the tailend of the protest after hearing about the interactions between community members and students. 

She advised students to be safe while walking home. 

“Do not engage with people who are antagonizing you,” said Cortez after organizing the students away from the town center.

Students walked with Cortez, Soto and volunteers from the Future Leaders of America to the United Domestic Workers of America office in Santa Maria to debrief the protest and hand out pizza for the students. 

In a statement on Friday, Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE demanding an investigation into the alleged assault of the Santa Maria student. 

“A U.S. citizen student was detained and injured on his way to school,” Carbajal wrote. “Farmworkers across the Central Coast have faced enforcement actions that leave them fearful of being detained while simply doing their jobs. 

“General platitudes that immigration agents are following agency policy are not enough. DHS and ICE must explain what happened, investigate potential misconduct, and take steps to prevent these incidents from happening again.”

An ICE spokesperson said the agency could not comment on ongoing investigations.

“This matter has been referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to the News-Press. “ICE does not comment on ongoing investigations.”

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