By David Rotenstein
NKyTribune reporter
Holmes High School students walked out of class Thursday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. About 200 students left the Covington campus and demonstrated along Madison Avenue.
Angeline is the daughter of an immigrant. She participated in the walkout to protest the federal immigration crackdown that has resulted in mass detentions, deportations and the deaths of multiple people around the country, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last month.
We are not using students’ full names in this story because they are concerned about retaliation. “I would not like my name disclosed as I am also a daughter of an immigrant and don’t want anything to come back on him,” Angeline said.
Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol enforcement actions in cities across the United States, from Los Angeles to Chicago and Minneapolis, are only part of the reason why Covington students staged the protest. The biggest reasons students gave for the walkout are closer to home.
“We don’t feel safe to go get groceries, go do anything because there has been so much violence from ICE and also the risk of losing our loved ones,” Angeline told the NKyTribune before the walkout. “I have heard about a couple students who have already lost loved ones to ICE and the terror that it brings to families because you could leave for school and you could come home to no one because they were picked up by ice.”
A.H. is a Holmes High School student leader and one of the walkout’s organizers. “The reason why we organized this walkout is to show support for people who have not been heard such as people who are scared to go outside themselves, like immigrant students,” they explained.
Though Angeline hasn’t personally witnessed immigration enforcement actions in Covington, she’s heard stories about people disappearing. She said she knows of at least one schoolmate who has had family members taken by ICE.
Angeline and many others in Northern Kentucky’s immigrant communities live in perpetual states of fear that they or their family members may be detained.
“I’m scared of going to school and coming home and finding out that they have picked up my dad or getting a phone call from a random number,” Angeline said. “I got a call today in school and my heart had dropped because I’m scared that each unknown number that calls me could be him.”
Families across Northern Kentucky have frank conversations about what to do if they or family members are detained. The conversations are reminiscent of “The Talk” children in Black families get instructing them how to act if they are racially profiled and pulled over by the police.
Angeline described family meetings about what to do if her father, who is a legal resident, gets detained. “Ways to get money, who to contact about him getting picked up and who to take care of us,” she said about what they discuss. “Stuff like that where money is, phone numbers to call, stuff like that.”
Fear is the reason more people in Northern Kentucky don’t know about the local impacts of the federal immigration crackdown. One Boone County educator who would only speak on background described how many immigrant families have altered their behavior to protect themselves and others. Instead of shopping at immigrant-owned markets, they’re shopping at chains like Kroger and Walmart, he said.
Last Fall, an American-born Florence business owner married to an immigrant declined to speak to reporters about his impending displacement out of fear of bringing too much attention to his family.
Florence city council member Lesley Chambers has noticed that one of her favorite lunch places, a Mexican restaurant, now has a lot fewer customers.
“That place is usually jam packed with people,” Chambers said after a recent council meeting. “Typically when I go in there early afternoon, it’s full of people like on their lunch breaks.” She said many of the other customers she used to see appeared to be immigrant laborers.
And, the fear and changes to spending practices isn’t just impacting immigrant businesses. Some locally owned businesses that have large immigrant clienteles are affected.
Many local businesses have responded to the federal crackdowns by posting signs that say ICE isn’t welcome and that immigration enforcement officials must have warrants to enter.
Hillary Thomas owns Ronnie’s Corner Market in Covington’s Peaselburg neighborhood. She has signs posted and she helps her customers and neighbors prepare for ICE actions in her community.
“I’ve got people dropping off shirts that say, ‘we hate ICE,’ and people bringing me whistles and people bringing me red cards and saying, ‘how can I partner with you,’” Thomas recently explained inside her market. The red cards outline people’s rights.
Covington Human Rights Commission member Pamela Mullins also has noticed changes in her community. “I have heard stories that there’s not as many Hispanic or Latino-looking children going to school anymore because they’re afraid of being snatched,” Mullins said.
Mullins, who lives in the Eastside neighborhood, described a conversation she had with one store owner who caters to immigrant families. “His business with them, I believe, has dropped, too, when I had talked with him. He’s not getting as many in there as he used to,” Mullins said. “And this is a Black-owned business. So, it’s not just impacting [immigrant-owned businesses].”
Rose, a middle-school student, waited off campus for the walkout to begin. Her mother’s boyfriend is an immigrant. She said she had left campus with her mother’s permission.
The immigration crackdown hasn’t hit Rose or any of her friends directly. Yet. “Our school wanted to take action before it did,” she told the NKy Tribune.
The students walked out at 2 p.m. and marched, many carrying signs, to Madison Avenue. A Kenton County Sheriff’s officer had positioned himself to try and keep the students on campus.
It didn’t work. Students spilled out onto the sidewalk along Madison Ave. They danced, chanted and waved signs to passing cars, many of them honking horns in support.
The peaceful protest lasted about 20 minutes. Students began dispersing after school buses arrived.
Organizers said the crowd exceeded expectations and they were pleased with how things turned out. Lou, 17, was demonstrating to end the terror his friends are experiencing.
“I have friends that are scared,” he said as the crowd began dispersing. “There’s multiple people around here that are just fearful because ICE could literally do anything to anyone without regard.”
The NKyTribune reached out to Covington Board of Education Chairman Tom Haggard about the walkout. We did not receive a reply. Superintendent Alvin Garrison was traveling and not available for comment.
Covington schools spokesperson Debra Vance was at the walkout. She said there were no incidents and that the students exercised their rights to protest. Vance said that students who participated wouldn’t face disciplinary action and that the schools will follow the student code of conduct in disciplining students who did not return to class after the walkout.
Angeline hopes the walkout will raise awareness about conditions locally and nationally. She doesn’t want to live in fear and she wants to see change. “It’s a terrifying world out there that we have to learn to live with. So that’s why I want to use my voice for stuff like this.”