At 2 p.m. on February 27, more than 300 students left Jackson-Reed and walked to the Lincoln Memorial to protest the nationwide abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They joined over 1,000 students from 15 schools across the DMV.
Students exited class and walked to the Tenley/AU Metro, where they huddled in packed metro cars to the Farragut North Metro. From there, students marched to the Lincoln Memorial cheering and holding signs saying things like “hot girls melt ICE” and “love thy neighbor” as they walked to join other students from across the city.
The protest intended to use student voices to speak out against ICE’s increased presence and violence towards immigrants, and U.S. citizens, which has endangered the lives and families of communities across the country. According to The Guardian, at least 32 detainees died in ICE custody in 2025, the most in more than 20 years.
During the rally, student voices and chanting could be heard from the Reflection Pool to the steps of the Lincoln, with many using their signs to express their pride for their community and fellow students.
“We have been watching ICE murder and kidnap our friends and our families and our teachers and we have decided that we are not going to sit by as they attempt to ethnically cleanse the United States,” JR senior Chloe Philip said in an interview with The Beacon.
Freshman Billie Himmelman echoed a similar sentiment saying she was protesting “the unfair treatment of all those who have been taken into custody by ICE.”
Jackson-Reed junior Nati Pinilla was a primary organizer of the walkout. “After seeing a ton of other walkouts at other schools like Prince George’s County, I thought it would be very important and powerful to have one in DC,” Pinilla said.
After her initial idea in January, Pinilla made an Instagram account to spread the word, and students from other schools contacted her about getting involved.
She said she envisioned that the walkout would be student run. “I didn’t want to limit it to JR, and if we involved other schools it would send a powerful message,” Pinilla, who is a Beacon junior editor, said.
“I am so proud,” JR sophomore Zoe Caldwell said. ”As a minority and as a young person, it is so important that minors stand up for each other and use our young voices and minds.”
Sophomore K’layaha Thomas said the protest showed how students can unite for a cause. “It feels really great to be out here, seeing so many different schools come out here for the exact same thing,” she said.
A DCPS Spokesperson said that DCPS “believes that the safest place for students is in school,” so while they recognize students’ place in civic engagement, the walkout “was not a DCPS-sanctioned event and the expectation was that students remain in school.”
They added that students who were absent for the walkout will have the absences marked as unexcused.
At JR, students faced little pushback to the walkout. Many teachers also attempted to facilitate students walking out by pushing back tests and allowing students to make up missed work.
Simona Spicciani, an Italian teacher and sponsor of the Student Government Association at JR, was present at the rally and said she felt “so proud to see how our kids care so much.” Spicciani said, “As [SGA] sponsor, I encourage students to be active in whatever they are passionate about and take a stand,” and when she “gets to witness that, it’s exciting.”
Philip said at the rally that she was “proud of this school as pretty much everyone I know is here,” and she felt that “our school’s establishment handled it fairly well.”
JR sophomore Windsor Baker agreed, saying that the administration “was really supportive, holding the doors and stuff, telling us where to go.”
However, other schools in the area were less supportive of students walking out.
Prior to the walkout, the administration at St. John’s College High School threatened to suspend students who left the school to protest. As a result, many St. John’s students joined the protest after school ended.
“Our school has been less than cooperative,” St. John’s senior Tessa Majchrzak, who organized the walkout at the school, said. She said that St. John’s deans waited outside the school at 2 p.m., threatening to suspend anyone who left, which made her and other students late to the protest.
Majchrzak said that since she began organizing St. John’s participation in the rally, she “had to work around our administration and they shot [her] down immediately when [she] brought it up.”
Despite the differences in school policies, students from across the city united at the Lincoln Memorial. “It’s really important how all different types of schools are here,” Maret junior Harry Fishman said, ”It’s really cool that we are uniting here to just say ‘F ICE, get out of our city.’ ” •
