Revolution#129, May 18, 2008
Berkeley/Oakland Students Protest ICE Threats
Four days after many students in Berkeley and Oakland walked out of school for the May 1 immigrant rights marches and one day after Cinco de Mayo celebrations, ICE agents spread fear and panic at Berkeley High School and Stonehurst Elementary in East Oakland. On May 6, ICE vans were seen driving around these schools. At Berkeley High, teachers hid students, parents frantically rushed to the school to pick up their kids, and many tears were shed. The Berkeley and Oakland school districts sent out directives to not let ICE agents cross onto school grounds. Berkeley High reportedly arranged for rides home for some students. Although ICE agents did not enter school grounds, they arrested a family of four close to Berkeley High and a woman in East Oakland near the elementary school.
On May 7, 50 Berkeley High students protested the ICE threats. The next day, 100 students from Oakland High took to the streets in protest against ICE. Black and Latino students joined together in these protests. A statement against the ICE raids by an Oakland High student said in part, “I believe this is all similar to World War 2, in the way that these immigrants are in the same situation as the Jews where they sit in fear, just waiting out every day until the Nazis come for them.”
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