Henrico high-schoolers continue anti-ICE walkouts, while school administrators express concerns about disruption, safety

At J.R. Tucker High, more than 700 students staged a walkout against the recent actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 23. Other Henrico high schools followed suit, with a Feb. 13 protest at Glen Allen High bringing out nearly 1,000 students.

And today (Feb. 20), students were planning massive walkouts at all nine high schools in the county, though it was unclear initially how many had occurred. The countywide protest was planned on social media by a student-led Instagram account, “iceouthenrico,” and news about the protest spread among students online and through word of mouth. The Feb. 20 protest at Tucker appeared much smaller than the previous one at the school, and students at Glen Allen reported similar observations there.

Glen Allen senior Joshua Raspberry, who organized the initial protest at his school, said that like many other students at the school, he has become more interested in political issues as he has gotten older. Raspberry recently turned 18, and the culmination of his new ability to vote and recent violence involving ICE agents in Minneapolis became a turning point for his involvement in politics.

“Now I figured that it’s a good time to start looking into issues that I have the possibility of affecting and changing. And coming out of 2025, seeing how ICE is treating people, it just didn’t sit right with me at all,” he said. “I wanted to give people a platform where their opinions and their voices can be heard just as much as I would want mine to be heard.”

Nearly half the student population at Glen Allen turned out for the Feb. 13 protest, with hundreds of students flooding through the hallways wearing red (a color that symbolizes solidarity with immigrant rights) and holding signs, megaphones, and the flags of different countries. Although the school does host students from different immigrant populations, Glen Allen is predominantly white, which Raspberry said makes the massive turnout for the protest even more compelling.

“It was incredible. And it’s equally as powerful when people are speaking on issues that don’t necessarily affect them, because it shows how much they care,” he said. “There were so many people – different races, different economic statuses – that came together and united under one common cause.”

‘Not another protest. Not in my building.’

But Henrico Schools officials and administrators have said that the protests have become disruptive to school environments and some students have refused to cooperate with staff when told to return to class after demonstrating.

HCPS acknowledges students’ rights to demonstrate peacefully but does not condone students leaving class or walking out of school without permission during the instructional day, said HCPS spokesperson Eileen Cox.

“The primary responsibility of school administrators and staff is to help ensure the safety and supervision of all students on campus – those who walk out as well as those who remain in class,” she said. “While most participants are motivated by their strong beliefs, we know that others may be using this as simply an opportunity to miss class.”

Glen Allen High School administrators reached out directly to Raspberry after hearing about the planned protest through social media, Raspberry said, and administrators said they would allow students to demonstrate inside the school as long as the protest did not go longer than the 30-45 minute free period. But the demonstration lasted for nearly two hours, with a group of about 100 students leaving the building to protest on the football field and near the front doors but staying on school grounds.

“Admin was a little frantic, to say the least, about everything that was going on,” Raspberry said. “Once students started moving inside from the football field, that’s when they tried to shut things down. However, I would say it was about a combined total of maybe 15 adults that are trying to mitigate everything, versus hundreds of teenagers.”

None of the school protests involved any violence, said students and HCPS officials, but Cox said that some students at the Glen Allen demonstration refused to return to class after the free period concluded and caused disruption to the school.

“It was very peaceful. It was very inspirational, and it brought a sense of community at our school.”
-Glen Allen High School senior Summiya Noorzad

Any student who leaves class, even for an administration-approved student demonstration, will be marked absent, Cox said, and students who do not return to class or leave school may face consequences.

“Significant disruption to the school day was caused by a group of students who, after the demonstration concluded, refused to return to class as instructed while becoming increasingly loud and uncooperative,” Cox said. “Those students could face consequences.”

Summiya Noorzad, a senior at Glen Allen, was one of the students who continued to demonstrate past the allotted time for the protest, but said that she was not aware of the demonstration’s time limit. Noorzad said that after the protest, school administrators threatened her with suspension, but she subsequently did not receive punishment after meeting with the school principal.

“You don’t time something like that when there are people that are currently dying, is what everybody at the protest was saying,” Noorzad said. “It was very peaceful. It was very inspirational, and it brought a sense of community at our school.”

Noorzad, whose parents immigrated from Afghanistan, noted that Glen Allen includes several neighborhoods in Western Henrico with large Afghan populations that recently came to the country. Recent reported sightings of ICE agents in Western Henrico areas such as Short Pump have sowed fear and constant anxiety in the community, she said.

During Noorzad’s meeting with administration, Glen Allen Principal Reginald Davenport expressed concern about the upcoming countywide protest, saying, according to Noorzad: “Not another protest. Not in my building.” Many administrators and teachers said that there has never been such a large protest at the school before, according to Raspberry.

Davenport and other school administrators are taking steps to ensure that the school environment remains safe and controlled, including meeting with several students this past week who participated in the initial protest, said Cox, when asked by the Citizen about Davenport's comment.

“Mr. Davenport wants students to understand that an event that results in those behaviors cannot happen again,” Cox said. “He endeavors to support all students, whether they participate in a protest or not, and all have the right to a safe and secure school environment.”

‘If the school tries to stop us, we will not stop’

At Tucker High, which has the highest immigrant student population in the county, students attempted a massive anti-ICE walkout on Jan. 23 but were stopped by school administrators and Henrico Police officers before leaving the campus. 

Senior Erick Yadiel, who organized the walkout at Tucker, said that principal Arthur Raymond posted a message on the school-wide app “Schoology” the day before the walkout, stating that the school administration wanted to work with protest organizers to ensure everyone’s safety, although Yadiel said that administration did not directly reach out to him. 

The day of the protest, hundreds of students demonstrated outside the school building, but once a large group of students tried to take the protest off school grounds, administrators and police began pushing and corralling students back inside the building. No violence occurred at the demonstration, both Yadiel and Cox confirmed.

“In my opinion, I feel like the school’s response wasn’t necessary. They shouldn’t have intervened, everything was controlled and they knew in advance,” Yadiel said. “It was very hyped, but not chaotic. Everyone was jumping, showing their country’s flag, and they were all singing.”

School administrators brought in Henrico Police before the start of the protest because students had indicated that they planned to leave campus during the protest, said Cox, with Henrico Police present to make students “aware of potential impact to the community.”

After a large group of students tried to walk outside of the campus, but were stopped by police and staff, many students were not let back into the building, Yadiel said, and the school later sent out a message an hour later on the app “StudentSquare” to parents detailing the event. 

“Around half of everyone who walked out [of campus] was not let back in,” Yadiel said. “And most of those kids didn’t have any ride home, and just stood outside waiting for their parents for hours.”

HCPS policy does not allow students to return to campus unless properly signed in by a parent or guardian, Raymond wrote in his message to Tucker families.

Tucker, which is currently the most diverse high school in all of Virginia, has many students from immigrant families. Yadiel said he was inspired to organize the walkout after talking to one of his friends during lunch, who detailed their relatives’ negative experiences with ICE. Many teachers at Tucker also were supportive of the protest, Yadiel said, and helped students make signs for the demonstration during class.

“If you’ve ever been to Tucker, you know that Tucker is full of Hispanic students,” Yadiel said. “Tucker is not okay with ICE. We do not agree with ICE.”

HCPS high school administrators, including administration at Tucker, were aware of the planned countywide Friday, said Cox, and do not support students leaving campuses. But Yadiel and other Tucker students still were planning to walk out of campus and march down Parham Road – regardless of whether school administrators support or do not support their plan.

“I don’t want the school to get involved, and I’ve specifically posted [on social media] that if the school tries to stop us, we will not stop,” Yadiel said. “As much as we appreciate the teachers and staff, they should keep a distance. We just have to walk right by them. And if they do try to use force, I recommended to students not to do anything about that. But I highly doubt they will use force.”

Yadiel has also warned students that if they leave the school campus, they should expect not to be let back in the building.

“I told them that they will not be coming back if they do participate. They know the consequences,” he said. “They should know that by the time they step out, there’s a high chance the school is not going to let them back in, even if the school says they will.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.