Students at Bolingbrook High School walked out of school late Friday morning to stage a protest against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country.

Hundreds of students left the school grounds and marched down West Briarcliff Road on their way to the Bolingbrook Police Department and Fountaindale Public Library.

Students were carrying signs and chanting “Get ICE off our streets.”

High school students in other northern Illinois communities held similar walkouts and protests on Friday and last week.

The protest was entirely organized by students, with a group of about 20 students coordinating the event. Students said they had been planning the event for just over a week and reached out to the Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project (SSIP) for support.

Representatives from SSIP were present at the protest, acting as guides along with Bolingbrook police to make sure students remained safe and the event remained peaceful.

Members of the SSIP also provided protesters with snacks and bottled water.

“We’re here to support the students after they asked for our assistance,” SSIP Executive Director Jose Vera said. “We’re so proud of them that they have more courage than our elected officials.”

Lead student organizer Aubrey Caudill, 16, also expressed frustration with village officials, particularly regarding an alleged ICE arrest that took place in the Bolingbrook Police Department’s lobby earlier this month, saying that the village has not done enough to address the incident.

[ PHOTOS: Bolingbrook H.S. students march in protest of ICE ]

“They’re more worried about appearances,” Caudill said, noting that school officials had tried to dissuade students from protesting and encouraged them to march only on school grounds.

“It’s our right to leave when we want, and they can’t take that away,” Caudill said. “Protesting is a way to show the adults around us our voice. I won’t let my voice be taken away just because I’m young.”

Caudill said the situation with ICE arrests and the fear many of her friends live in “makes me sick to my stomach.”

“Most of my friends are Hispanic,” she said. “A lot of them are undocumented, and some of them haven’t been to school in weeks because they’re afraid. It meant so much to get all this support today.”

Students estimated that between 200 and 300 of their classmates, representing all four grades, but heavily skewed towards underclassmen, walked out to participate in the event.

They carried dozens of homemade signs and one oversized banner reading “Immigrants Make America Great.”

“It’s my father’s sign,” sophomore Liliana Cabrera said. “He’s protested a lot. I am part of the student leader group, so my dad met us outside with it today.”

Cabrera said she comes from a family of immigrants and that, for her, the protest was personal.

“It means a lot to my culture,” she said. “It’s an honor to have so many people fighting what’s going on and the discrimination against immigrants who built this country.”

“It’s really important to us,” sophomore Ash Sampson said. “We’re a majority minority school, and it means a lot to see everybody come out here together. It’s beautiful. It feels like the most American thing.”

While a small group put together the idea and spread it on social media, organizer Jacob Schultz said dozens of students sent in ideas.

“We’re all just tired of seeing people getting taken off the streets,” said Schultz, a junior at the school. “Who are we if we stand by and let them do whatever they want to our people? Speaking out about it is the best way to expose tyranny.”

Schultz was one of the few student protesters who will be old enough to vote in the November midterm election, but other students said they plan to continue protesting.

“It’s not fair what’s happening,” senior Amaya Gray said. “If we all stand up, maybe we can get more attention for it. We want to do whatever we can to support people in a peaceful way, whether it’s protests, or signing petitions, or sharing stories on social media.”

“People are really dismissing these kids, saying they’re just walking out to ditch class, but they’re way more informed than we ever were in the 70s,” said Sandy Verdon, a retired teacher and community member who came out to support the students. “For so many of the kids, this is really personal.”

Officials respond

Bolingbrook High School administrators did not reply to a request for comment, but students said the administration had tried to discourage the effort.

The school said it would not stop students from walking out, but that they would be marked with an unexcused absence.

An email was also sent to parents on Thursday stating, “The best way we can protect and keep your child safe is by keeping students in school. Once students leave BHS, it becomes very difficult for us, or anyone else, to ensure their safety, as you have seen from incidents at other schools over the past week. Please have a conversation with your child in regards to Friday.”

When asked for comment about the protest and the criticisms of the village not adopting an ordinance opposing ICE, Bolingbrook Mayor Mary Alexander-Basta said, “We believe passing an ordinance would give people a false sense of security by telling them they are safe when we cannot override federal authority.”

Alexander-Basta stated that the village has tried to share ‘Know your Rights’ information with the community and has been in talks with state officials about expanding the TRUST Act to apply to municipal property.

“We’ve done what we can safely do to mitigate the current situation,” Alexander-Basta said. “Something needs to be done through the TRUST Act, and we’ve met with state lawmakers as recently as yesterday about expanding it.”

She also reiterated that village resources “are absolutely not” being used to support federal immigration efforts in the village. “We follow the TRUST Act to a T,” she said.

On the student protest, she said that “safety was our top priority today, that’s why we had a heavy police presence around the school” and said “we’re happy and proud that everything went well today and everyone remained safe and peaceful.”