Following the first period bell at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 6, around 100 students at Brea Olinda High School gathered at the campus’s entrance to embark on a 2.1-mile march to the Brea Civic Center. The students were assembled to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions throughout the US, including the shooting deaths of Minneapolis residents Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good in January.

The protest was organized by Instagram user @walkout_meltice in a Feb. 4 post that read, “Your voice CAN make a change and your participation is needed to make that change. Never be afraid or embarrassed to stand for what you truly believe in.” 

Students — some carrying signs, some draped in Mexico and Venezuela flags, some chanting “ICE out of our city!” — then marched down Wildcat Way.

One of the protestors, Isabella Luarca (‘26), was compelled to join the protest due to what she described as the climate of fear caused by ICE.

“We’re not okay with ICE coming in, taking families and not obeying the laws that we have in our Constitution,” Luarca said. “It’s scary to speak out but really we need to protect ourselves, our families, and in order to do that, we have to protect strangers, American citizens, that are being hurt as we speak.”

Reese Biniasz (‘27) chose to participate in the walkout due to the “humanitarian rights violations of people of color in America” he witnesses, daily, in the news. 

Joining the march along the route were students from Brea Canyon High School. (Brea Junior High students held separate protests in designated areas — the basketball courts — at 8:30 and 11:30 a.m.)

BOHS personnel, including campus supervisors and administrators, supervised the demonstration on campus grounds, but were not permitted to “leave campus beyond the fence,” according to Melissa Serrato, BOUSD Public and Media Relations Specialist. 

“We had most of our admin team out there [in the morning], as well as campus supervisors and counselors, so that if students had a question about attendance or something else, we could answer that,” BOHS principal Joey Davis said.

The march pivoted west along Lambert Boulevard, progressed under the 57 Freeway overpass, then hooked left onto State College. 

At 9:16 a.m., students — including 10 Brea Junior High School students and two students from Arovista Elementary School — arrived at their destination: the Brea Civic Center and City Hall. 

Massed along Birch Boulevard, participants chanted, “What do we want? ICE out! When do we want it? Now!,” and waved signs with messages ranging from “Immigrants Built America” to “Crush ICE” as Mexican music played from a student’s speaker.

As students dispersed to the intersection corners of East Birch Street and Market Place, some passing cars honked in solidarity with protesters.

Chants proclaiming “Love, not hate, makes America great,” sounded from the intersection’s corners during the near four-hour demonstration.

Students periodically ventured to Target for cases of water, granola bars, and even a megaphone, which was used to issue reminders of the non-violent and anti-ICE nature of the protest.

Waving a Mexican flag, protester Scarlett Boucher (‘27) said she intended to protest to “hopefully get heard by the city, and the government [so that they] see us and they hear us.”

Also observing the protest at the Civic Center were two Brea Police Department officers, Serrato, and BOUSD Superintendent Brinda Leon. A police drone buzzed overhead. 

“Our monitoring was solely to ensure that students were engaging in a safe and peaceful protest,” Serrato said.

Most of the student protestors dispersed by noon, with around 30 still waving flags from the steps adjacent to Big 5 Sporting Goods and brandishing signage along the Brea Civic Center sidewalk.

For participant Marwan Elsadek (‘27), the morning was a testament to how much he, and his fellow marchers, were impacted by the actions of ICE.

“I’m not Mexican but I’m brown, I’m Arab,” Elsadek said. “I’ve felt oppression for my race before so I feel empathy for all the people that are getting their families split, all the people that are getting unrightfully taken, and beyond just the two people shot publicly by ICE. If the previous generations aren’t gonna do something, we are. It’s that simple.”