Under the light of an early morning, a scared mother steered her son to school while an unmarked SUV followed. Later, crouching beside him on the curb of the drop-off lane, she uttered a brief goodbye and entered the unfamiliar car.
On October 23, Issaquah community member Diana Romero woke up normally; she made breakfast; she got ready for work; she started her car, and left to drop her son off at The Learning Nest Preschool.
But she realized she wasn’t alone on her drive when she saw an ICE vehicle behind her. As both cars pulled into the parking lot, her heart racing, Romero said goodbye to her son.
This fleeting farewell was captured by a Ring camera posted outside The Learning Nest’s front doors.
“She was saying goodbye to her child. She was kissing him and telling him, ‘Never forget, I love you so much,’” owner and director of The Learning Nest Preschool Fatima Escareno recalled.
The following Friday, after an encounter with an ICE agent at Learning Nest’s doors, Escareno decided to close the preschool.
Across the nation, citizens like Escareno fear the disappearance of more than 65,000 migrants in ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement) detention—including Diana Romero and over a thousand others from Washington.
Detention quickened after a directive was issued to ICE by Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to detain 3,000 immigrants a day to fulfill President Trump’s goal of launching “the largest deportation program in American history,” which he confirmed on national television during his 2024 campaign.
According to the American Immigration Council, of 335 million American citizens, immigrants comprise 14.3 percent, and with their U.S. born children, nearly 30 percent. However, over ten million unauthorized migrants still live among us.
Since Trump was sworn into office, ICE has detained nearly 20,000 people per month. So far, about 26% of detainees are convicted criminals, another 26% are pending criminal charges, and 48% are categorized as “other immigration violators”.
NBC News recently obtained internal ICE data revealing that 11% of those detainees were convicted of sexual assault, and six percent were known to have committed homicide.
And these numbers aren’t insignificant–they’re fueling Trump’s plan to change U.S. immigration policy and rapidly reduce numbers of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
As his plan trickles into Washington, and thousands of people like Diana Romero are being detained every day, students are noticing.
“I’m not affected by ICE, but I think it’s a big concern for whole communities, especially immigrant communities,” senior Charlotte Soliven, a second-generation immigrant, said.
To address such concern increasing in our region, Issaquah School District (ISD) announced in Regulation 4300 that any attempts to engage on their grounds will be redirected to the principal or another authorized individual.
Attempting to alleviate remaining concerns, they also guaranteed that all students residing within ISD boundaries will have safe access to a free public education, regardless of immigration status.
Though students are protected in ISD on paper, some remain frightened in school environments.
Sophomore Madelyn Huey noticed an impact of recent ICE Raids at Liberty.
“I have a friend who’s Mexican and she has friends here who only speak Spanish and don’t feel safe in this environment. They’re scared to go out and do normal things that they wouldn’t feel scared to otherwise.”
Their fear has been steepened by raids ranging from traffic stops to home invasion.
Around midnight on September 30, ICE swept through a South Shore neighborhood in Chicago, suspecting apartments were occupied by Tren de Aragua gangsters.
Agents returned with thirty-seven detainees, most of which had no criminal record, and were later released.
Earning the name of “Operation Midway Blitz,” this event sparked protests in the South Shore. Congo lines of cars followed unmarked ICE vehicles, honking for miles, which caught social media’s attention.
Commenters online called ICE agents bullies, and many restaurants refused to serve them.
Despite this, in mid-November, over 600 people were detained in similar Chicago raids, and 16 were deemed “high public safety risk,” by the government.
Many don’t consider immigrants the root of crime in our country.
“They are the backbone of America,” Huey said, “and we need to convict those who are causing harm, not single moms or farmworkers just trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.”
Alternatively, others argue that any form of immigrating illegally disrespects the effort others took to become citizens.
In a 2021 article on Hot Air, a conservative news publication, writer Jazz Shaw took this stance:
“Besides being an insult to everyone who spent the time, money, and effort to immigrate legally and become naturalized citizens, it’s an open invitation to every other prospective border jumper to head for the border with all due haste,” Shaw said.
President Trump endorsed this idea in one of many appearances on TV, warning about the dangers of foreign migrants.
“We have no idea who they are,” he said, “and they want to come into our country. They may be ISIS. It may be the great Trojan Horse of all time. Who knows?”
Junior Josephine Le thought about undocumented citizens a little differently.
“Many people are undocumented because America’s process is so long and difficult. It should be easier to immigrate legally.”
“They have to pass a test to become citizens, and I know a lot of people that said if they took it, they wouldn’t pass because it’s not stuff everyone knows about American history,” Le said.
The Center for American Progress argued that “America needs a new immigration system that protects our security, grows the economy, reflects our values, and benefits all Americans,” and this mindset could benefit immigrant citizens if legal immigration was the goal.
However, some Americans believe it is not.
In response, various protests like “No Kings” arose as citizens observed actions—sudden arrests, pointing guns, wearing masks, entering schools—by ICE that they perceived as human rights violations.
“No Kings” protests started as a platform for millions to express their frustrations about the Trump Administration, claiming it was authoritarian and violated democratic ideals.
Some Liberty students attended “No Kings” protests, and questioned the bounds of ICE as an organization.
“At what point does it become legal to deport someone just because of what they believe?” Soliven said. “When the rules are changing, who really decides if we’re upholding the law?”
Le expanded on this:
“The whole claim of America and the government is that it’s for the people, and the American dream is based around freedom, but recent events are showing how the government is being curated by a few people instead of what the majority want.”
Le and Soliven both attended “No Kings” on October 18th, alongside roughly 90,000 others. But across the U.S., an estimated seven million joined them, marking the largest “No Kings” protest in history.
Over the last fifty years, protest has become the most common form of revolutionary mobilization used by the American people.
Every year, news of mass demonstrations hits broadcast companies, and American citizens watch as their peers rally to make a change.
Some watch with irritation, claiming people are getting too political.
“People say they don’t get into politics, but if you are alive, and you have friends and family, and you love people, then things become political,” Soliven said.
Politics in mind, Soliven revealed one of her reasons for speaking out against ICE.
“My mother’s an immigrant, and people that I love are immigrants, so if these deportations keep happening, how can I not care about it? It’s personal. And it should be.”
Recent protests are seeing a record mobilization of high schoolers and young voters trying to find their role in politics and political activism.
“Once I reach college age and have the freedom to go out whenever, I will go to protests because they mean a lot to me,” Huey said, who, like all Liberty students, will soon be of voting age.
“I’m not the one being targeted at the moment, but people I care about are, and it shouldn’t take people you care about being targeted to see that this issue matters.”
Record protest attendance and increased political activism in this decade have proved one clear thing: Americans don’t seem scared to speak their mind.
Aware of this, Soliven challenged younger generations.
“Knowledge is power. You should practice being politically informed. You should practice finding issues you care about because sooner or later, you will have the right to change them.”