More than 1,000 Homewood-Flossmoor High School students walked out of their classrooms on Friday, Feb. 13, to protest the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Students walked alongside Kedzie Avenue and Flossmoor Road, carrying signs with slogans such as “It shouldn’t have to happen to you to matter to you,” “Fight ignorance, not immigrants,” “Stop ICE violence” and “ICE does not protect. They kill.”
The H-F students were part of a national movement in more than three dozen states where students walked out of class to protest the Trump administration’s deportation tactics in recent weeks, according to the New York Times.
Ashton Carpenter, a 15-year-old H-F sophomore, organized the protest and contacted school administrators beforehand. Carpenter and a few classmates started @ICEoutHF2026, an Instagram account used to inform other students about the walkout.
“I’m very proud,” Carpenter said, adding that he estimates the majority of the H-F student body walked out. “Everyone’s posters were amazing, and everyone’s chants.”
School administrators said they didn’t condone or condemn the protest’s message but wanted to keep participants safe. While the students marched, District 233 Superintendent Jennifer Norrell rode around campus in a golf cart with other administrators, monitoring them.
Norrell said she met with student organizers before the walkout, advising them to keep the protest on school grounds, and they agreed.
Carpenter said he was motivated to organize the protest after seeing a viral TikTok video of a DoorDash driver running into a customer’s home, despite not knowing her, because she feared a group of ICE agents. The DoorDash customer called 911, crying, and said she was terrified that ICE was going to break down her door.
“The police said if the stranger didn’t give her up, she was going to be charged with harboring. And I feel that’s not good,” Carpenter said, recalling the video.
Carpenter said ICE agents’ fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, which made national headlines, also energized him into action.
Joseph Aidan Klauk, a 17-year-old H-F senior with Viking Television (VTV), stood in place, filming other students who were passing him.
“Everyone’s voices should be heard here at the school. And I’m trying to capture the moment,” Klauk said. “A big crowd like this can make a change. And I’m hoping that what we’re doing here as a school, and what a lot of other schools are doing, will make a positive impact on the community, and that our voices combined will be heard nationally.”
“We, as a school district, don’t condone leaving during the structured time to be a part of a walkout. However, we understand that self-expression, things that they’re passionate about, and student voices are really important in their growth and development process,” Norrell said. “So, we are going to be out here to support them.”
“We appreciate our students’ ability to express themselves thoughtfully and our staff’s support in ensuring a calm and safe environment for all,” H-F Principal Clinton Alexander said later. “The walkout concluded, and school was dismissed at 3 p.m. as usual.”
