Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by Sophia Qureshi from 285 South on January 21, 2025.
Among the reasons to protest on Tuesday were “my dad got deported” and “keeping the future of our country in tact”
Hundreds of students streamed out of Lakeside High School on Briarcliff Road on Wednesday afternoon, skipping their sixth-period class to join nationwide protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Lakeside was one of two high schools in the metro area to take part, along with Georgia State, Kennesaw State, and other universities.
Among the marchers was David, who’s in 10th grade. Walking down Briarcliff Road in the frigid weather, he held onto a sign somebody handed to him.
“My dad got deported,” he told 285 South. A few months ago, he said, his father was sent back to Mexico after being arrested in DeKalb County for driving without a license. David had just visited him this past weekend in Mexico, returning on Sunday.
For his siblings and his mom, he said, it’s been “stressful every day, sad every day.” But, he added, “also happy because he’s still alive. He’s not dead.”
With the support of some teachers, Lakeside students obtained permission from the school administration to participate in the walkout. The students marched from their high school to the Globe Academy, about three quarters of a mile away, before turning around. Several police vehicles lined the school parking lot and some were parked along the street. The kids filled up one side of Briarcliff Road, slowing traffic on the other side while garnering honks of support and high fives. A few women cheered them on from a street corner as they passed.
An 11th grader, who said she was an adoptee from China, held a Chinese flag. She walked in tandem with her friend—they were both skipping U.S. history class. They didn’t feel bad, they said, because even as they’re learning about history, they also “have to learn about keeping the future of our country intact and our rights intact.”
Social studies teacher Andrew Robinson joined the demonstration with about half of his students—who, he said, have been asking him a lot of “pointed questions.” “In class, we just talked about the Red Scare of the 1920s and the Emergency Quota Act and the National Origins Act and all the anti-immigration that came around during the first Red Scare,” he said. “The kids are really, really interested in like, has this ever happened before?”
Reflecting the diversity of the surrounding areas and drawing students from neighborhoods around or close to Tucker, Chamblee, and Brookhaven, Lakeside’s student body is around 41 percent Hispanic, 20 percent Black, and 4 percent Asian. They were responding to ICE crackdowns in Minnesota as well as arrests many heard about locally, amid this constant anxiety that they’re going to return to Atlanta.
French teacher Henri de Vastey said, “I’m from Haiti, and so a number of [students] approached me and talked to me about how it feels like to be unsure what’s going to happen to either you or your family members.” He added that “many of the students have legal status. It’s just maybe an older brother, an older sister, a parent doesn’t.” He’s worried about how the stress might affect their learning. “Then somebody gets deported, the money, the support is gone, so families have to merge to make ends meet,” Henri said. “It’s just not conducive for learning.”
David’s father worked in HVAC, and trained him with some of those skills. After school, he said, he often works to earn extra income for the family, though lately work has been slow. As he neared the school on Wednesday, he reflected on his time visiting Mexico. He was born and raised in Atlanta, but hopes to live in Mexico one day: “There’s more freedom, there’s less stress,” he said. “In the U.S., there’s work, every day, stress. There’s no freedom.”
As the march approached its end and students prepared to return to class, David realized he hadn’t read the sign that he had been holding—it was facing outwards. It read: “Let Our Parents Have Their American Dream.” He nodded.
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