{"id":176732,"date":"2026-02-13T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176732\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T17:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:00:09","slug":"fresno-unified-student-protests-remained-on-campus-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176732\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Unified student protests remained on campus Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake:<\/p>\n

The forum was organized by school leaders and students alike to specifically allow students a dedicated time to voice their concerns with ICE enforcement in front of the news media.<\/p>\n

Following weeks of student walkouts in protest of ICE and the Trump Administration, Edison Computech Middle School organized its own student forum in Fresno on Thursday, allowing students a space to speak up in front of the media.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s \u201cWe are Young, Not Silent\u201d forum was organized by students alongside Nicole Vargas, the school\u2019s campus culture director. Superintendent Misty Her, Trustee Keshia Thomas and other community leaders attended the forum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing throughout our district, throughout our valley and throughout our nation is students that want to be heard,\u201d Vargas said in an interview.<\/p>\n

According to Vargas, students participated in a walkout last week and wanted to do so again, prompting her to approach students about organizing the forum.<\/p>\n

She said the forum gives students a place to speak out and exercise their First Amendment rights, but in a way that keeps students supervised on campus and off dangerous and busy streets.<\/p>\n

Students used the forum to criticize ICE and demand accountability against immigration enforcement authorities. Many spoke of their fear of losing family and friends to sudden detainments by federal agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs students, we\u2019re often taught that we\u2019re too young to understand politics. But we\u2019re not too young to understand fear; we\u2019re not too young to understand our classmates worried about their families and we\u2019re definitely not too young to feel what it\u2019s like when people in our community are scared,\u201d said Isabella, a student speaker.<\/p>\n

Many of the students also admonished<\/a> the government\u2019s increasingly aggressive tactics and its treatment of detained people under immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dozens of students showed up to Computech Middle School\u2019s forum, where students spoke out against ICE and the Trump administration. Diego Vargas | Fresnoland<\/p>\n

\u201cHard-working immigrants are being deported just because of their skin color or because they didn\u2019t come here legally,\u201d said eighth-grader Elizabeth Ochoa, who referenced the Supreme Court\u2019s decision last September that allows ICE agents to use race, ethnicity and language as factors to conduct stops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone gets deported, they get sent to a detention center where your basic human rights get stripped away and the facilities are crowded,\u201d Ochoa added.\u201cNo one should have to go through that. Immigrants are still humans. I\u2019m a human and I\u2019m not an alien.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students also thanked school leaders for being open to the forum, but emphasized the need to continue to speak out to meet the current moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to speak for all schools, not just ours, to state that the stuff happening in our generation is not OK, and students in schools should not worry about if they are going to get taken by ICE,\u201d said Computech student body President Tyrese Jones, adding, \u201cWe do walk-outs to try and teach a lesson to people who don\u2019t know and those who do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have hoped that we learned from our past: people being targeted and taken from their homes just because of who they are. Doesn\u2019t that sound familiar?\u201d said Gabriella, an eight-grader.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to use our voices and we need to be loud to show our love for our diversity and our community and our love for our culture; you can\u2019t beat hate with hate, but you can beat hate with love,\u201d she added. Being alive is not a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

School and district officials did not share any immediate plans for more student forums in the future.<\/p>\n

Computech\u2019s student forum comes at a time when Fresno County schools are attempting to adapt to ongoing student walkouts.<\/p>\n

In Clovis Unified, district officials and the Clovis Police Department announced on Wednesday<\/a> their intention to seek misdemeanor charges against adults who participated or encouraged students to leave campus earlier this week..<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, a joint statement signed by multiple Fresno County superintendents and the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools called the community and students to end walkouts entirely, citing safety concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her, the FUSD superintendent, also appeared alongside<\/a> Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto in a social media post urging students to be orderly during their protests.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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