BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
Student protests go back to at least the 1950’s integration of the schools under President Eisenhower. Some of the biggest were during the Vietnam War in the 1960’s. The 1980’s saw the anti – Apartheid and the Peace movements with student protests that brought about levels of campus unrest that had not been seen since the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Since the ascension of Donald Trump to the Presidency again in 2024 and his promise to deports the illegal immigrants from the United States beginning with the criminals who have murdered and raped American citizens or have been convicted of other violent crimes and his having ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) keep his promise, there have been major protests across the country and in many cases, students have been walking out of school to show their opposition to these actions.
The deaths of people at the hands of ICE has only served to enflame the anger of the anti – ICE protesters. On Wednesday February 11, 2026, students from three high schools, Spring Valley, Ramapo and Nyack walked out of school before the end of the school day to voice their opinions and feelings about ICE enforcing US immigration law.
The one thing that the protesters around the country do not differentiate in their speeches is the difference between legal and illegal immigrants.
Approximately 200 or so Nyack students walked out from the school at 1:15 pm onto Route 9W, aided by the Clarkstown and Orangetown Police, making sure they were able to cross 9W safely, they made their way over to the snow-covered field at Nyack BOCES.
“During the protests in the 1960’s – 1980’s the students were totally aware of what they were protesting against. Many students and even adults who are protesting today don’t seem to have a total grasp of the background of the issues they are protesting against. This has been evident during the free Palestine protests when a young lady was holding a sign saying, “From the River to the Sea” and didn’t know what river or what sea the sign was talking about.” Said a person who was watching the students walking out of the school.
Students were carrying signs saying F*** ICE, Migration is an Earth Right, Don’t criminalize it, History is screaming, Will you listen? One even had a sign that had MAGA in red, vertically down a piece of cardboard and next to each letter it said Morons Are Governing America. Some had religious sayings and mentioned Jesus. Others had sayings that some stars had made like, No one is illegal on stolen land and Undocumented hands feed you. They are workers not criminals. The one thing that can be said about these signs and this protest is that they were organic, made by the students, not pre – printed and put on 1×2 pieces of wood for people to hold. This was a student organized and led protest. Students said that there was no teacher involvement in this.
There were flags from about 4 Central and South American nations being carried, but no one was carrying an American flag.
As a former teacher of history and government, I can tell you that one topic that many of my students over 37 years did not like or really were not interested in was politics.
One student who I interviewed about his involvement in the protest said, “I’m not really all about big on politics and it’s just the fact that these people want to bring ICE into our county is terrifying. Not just for me, but I can speak for others also of immigrant families, they are shaken to their core and it’s just a terror that is brought upon us when these Congressmen, people, Legislators, whatever, politicians want to talk about, oh, we’re going to bring ice here, we’re going to work with ICE. It’s terrifying.”
He added that he is brown and as such, a person of color and feels he is a target of ICE for that reason.
The students who spoke at the rally in the field mentioned that 9 people had been killed by ICE under Trump. The student who was being interviewed did not know who Jocelyn Nungary, Laken Riley and Rachel Marin were. They were three young ladies who were killed and raped by illegal immigrants.
The students are well informed about the issues overall, although there are gaps in some of their knowledge as shown by the student not knowing who those three people were.
These students were very passionate about this cause. They spoke about keeping families together, the fear people have about going out to do simple daily activities like shopping for groceries and that they have what one student said was people who are legal doing that for them. Some of the speakers were brought to tears during their speeches.
I spoke with the leader/organizer of this walkout Silas Edla who made an impassioned speech to the students.
The students were taking an anti – ICE stand at this protest. I asked the Silas, what his objection was and about and has he known of any raids here in Rockland County.
“I do actually, in North Rockland, ICE detained 3 people in Ramapo, they’ve detained a number, and they’ve been here in Nyack. They’re roaming the streets of Nyack in unmarked vehicles obviously with tinted windows, but they are here, and that’s why we’re out here. We’re out here to protest and show that ICE is not welcome in our communities and what I mean.” He replied.
If they’re only looking for people here who are criminals, that criminal people that are here illegally, is there a problem with getting rid of criminals?
“When you say when you say criminal, let me be clear, we, I and we here support the deportation of criminals, rapists, murderers, all that stuff. Let’s make that clear. We support those deportations. We do not believe criminals who come here who are murderers, rapists should be allowed in our country and they should be deported. Let’s make that very clear. However, immigration is a civil law violation. It is not a criminal violation.”
He said that immigrants who come here and who have been living here for 10, 20, 30 years should not be deported, yet they are, and they’re being swept up in these ICE raids. “We have seen all over this country. Thousands of law-abiding immigrants being deported. Again, we have no problem with the deportation of rapists, murderers, and drug dealers. That’s not our problem. That’s not why we’re out here. We’re out here to protest the terrorizing of our immigrant communities. They are not made up of criminals but simply people who want to build a better life for themselves and their children.”
According to Silas ICE is terrorizing people just by driving through neighborhoods because people are scared that they’ll be deported. He thinks it’s pretty simple.
“Terror is fear. People are scared that they’re being deported. They, they come out here, they’re scared to walk the streets. In some communities, people are having their groceries dropped off to them by legal friends because they don’t want to go outside and get, and get snatched up by ICE.”
Silas has said he has never even seen anything personally. He has seen videos claiming they go to places like Home Depot where there are day laborers working and that they have quotas. ICE has a goal right now of deporting 1000 people a day. To meet those quotas, you can’t deport 1000 criminals a day. It’s not possible. So, to meet that quota, they’re going into Home Depots, Lowe’s, where day laborers are, or they’re going to known immigrant communities and snatching up people off the streets.
Our research showed that there were no raids on Home Depot or Lowes. There were people being questioned but that is normal police type procedure.
There is a difference between goals and quotas
Quota: a fixed share of something that a person or group is entitled to receive or is bound to contribute.
A goal is best described as a desired outcome or accomplishment that an individual or organization works toward, providing direction, motivation, and a clear target for effort, often defined with specific actions and timelines to make it achievable, moving from broad aspirations to concrete objectives.
The Trump administration calls the numbers they want to achieve in deportations as goals not quotas. It is a fine line between the two. The main difference is that quotas are “mandatory” whereas goals are desired.
Unlike a lot of people today, Silas said he gets his news from a variety of sources that are speaking from both sides of the political spectrum. I read Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and he gets his news from all over the country.
“It’s a diverse views points.”
Silas is a very knowledgeable young man. He ahs a grasp of the fundamentals of the situation even going back to the Obama administration and the deportations done during his administration. He said that those people were deported after due process and immigration hearings and that they weren’t being snatched off the courts and that right now people are in the in the federal courthouse in Westchester. There are ICE agents waiting inside the courthouses to snatch people away.
He feels, “The use of federal agents inside formally protected spaces such as schools, churches, and immigration courts are de-incentivizing people from doing the right thing. These people are going to their immigration appointments. They’re trying to do the right thing, going to their court dates, yet they have federal. Agents inside the courts waiting to snatch them away for simply following the process.”
There are people who agree with the government’s position that people who are here illegally and have been convicted of crimes and that are in jail should be turned over to ICE. But states like Minnesota, New York, Illinois, California won’t turn over to ICE, making ICE have to have to go into the neighborhoods. If they would turn them over in the prisons, it would make life a lot easier, safer for everybody concerned, ICE agents and the communities. There would be no fear in the community because the criminals they’re looking for would be taken out of the jail.
He responded, “Going to prison does not necessarily mean you’re a dangerous criminal. Going to prison for something, you can go to prison for something as simple as a drug, as a drug offense, have simple possession of marijuana in an illegal state or maybe like, you know, possessing something underage. That’s why communities don’t give ICE information about all their prisoners.”
“ICE will wait outside the prisons, wait for these people to go out there, even the ones who are murderer or sorry, even the ones who are not murderers and rapists and whatever, they will go out there and wait for them because they have to meet their quotas. The issue all lies down in the quotas. The, federal government has set in specific numbers that people must that they’re immigrants.”
According to Silas, If there were no immigration quotas we’d be in a far better situation because ICE agents aren’t incentivized to go and arrest as many people as possible without considering the situation. He added that he heard Caroline Leavitt state about the quotas.
Based on reports from January 2025 regarding the start of the second Trump administration, reports indicated that administration officials set quotas for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to increase arrests, including a reported goal of at least 1,200 per day.
Initial Response to Reports: According to a Washington Post report in January 2025, when asked for comment on the reported quotas, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated, “your story is false,” though she did not provide specific details to contradict the report.
In the end we agreed that the immigration policy, of the Obama, the Trump, the Biden, and the Trump administrations have all been broken. We need comprehensive immigration reform in this country, and this will only get done if Congress gets off their ass and starts doing something.
As a former Social Studies teacher, I am proud of students being a part of the political process and standing up for what they believe. This is what our founding fathers set up for this country to have open debate on the important issues of the day and be able to express their views PEACEFULLY, regardless of their point of view on the issue, as these student did on February 11, 2026.
One mother, Nicola Medrano, was present at the rally, taking pictures and stated “Thank you again for covering this story. I am proud of both of my children for being a part of it, that it was peaceful and their voices, speeches were powerful.”