Students and other members of the CSULB community gathered in the central quad around noon on Monday, Jan. 26, in anticipation of an impromptu student walkout protest rally against recent ICE activities. The rally was organized by student organizations, including CSULB Divest, Long Beach Party of Socialism and Liberation and La F.U.E.R.Z.A. Delfino Camacho | Long Beach Current

Over 100 students walked out of class to the central quad at noon on Jan. 26 to protest recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions and call for Long Beach State’s divestment from companies like Boeing, which they said are complicit with ICE and the genocide in Gaza.

Student organization CSULB Divest and student association La F.U.E.R.Z.A announced the protest on social media, posting on their respective Instagram accounts to encourage students to participate in the walkout. 

The Current spoke with third-year business administration major Sarah Garcia,  who serves as a media liaison for CSULB Divest.

“It’s been really hard to go to school every day without feeling like anything’s different, even though when I’m at home I know things are different,” Garcia said. “I’m seeing all this violence on my phone, my family is texting me and our family group chat, that they’re worried about me because I have brown skin; they’re worried about themselves.”

After hearing about the protest on Instagram, Garcia wanted to stand with students, both as an individual and a member of Divest. She described her grievances with the university administration.

“Our school has very close ties with Boeing, and Boeing provides the plans for ICE deportation flights, so it’s a contradiction,” Garcia said. “While CSULB claims to be a Hispanic-serving institution, there’s a lot of nice posters that say ‘we stand with immigrants,’ but with their other hand, they are doing business with people that provide technology to ICE.”

Speakers from Divest and associated student organizations, including Anakbayan Long Beach, spoke at the rally on a megaphone, condemning ICE for targeting minorities and for the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Students joined in several chants, including  “Shame,” “F*** ICE,” and “Chinga la migra.”

“I said ‘F*** ICE’ because I believe that the things that have happened in the last year and the years before that have kind of gone beyond a tipping point, and I feel this kind of sentiment and resentment for the people in power and how they choose to use that,” fourth-year film major Cedrix Lontok said.

Lontok said he thinks the community cares and opposes what ICE is doing, and that many people think about saying something but don’t often go out enough to do anything about it, himself included. 

The Current also spoke with first-year undecided major Marco Aguilera on why he came to the protest.

“So many innocent lives have been taken by ICE, either directly taken away from their families, even if they have papers or people who have been innocently killed by ICE,” Aguilera said. “I think Cal State Long Beach should take the initiative and realize that we’re all out here in direct offense to ICE … so I think Cal State Long Beach should take some self-reflection and look at their students.”

During the walkout, speakers condemned the university’s association with Boeing and called for the administration to divest from it. Speakers pointed to  ICE purchasing planes from Boeing to be used for deportation flights as a reason to divest.

Speakers also mentioned the HILL network, which opposes ICE and serves immigrant communities in Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lennox and Lawndale.

The organization is active on Instagram, providing links to fundraisers and instructions for volunteering.

“I see events like these as a way for people to become more aware and connected, but this is far from the last step; we need divestment, we need the university to approve the ASI resolution for divestment,” Garcia said. “The students already decided and now what I want to see is the university listen to its students.”