{"id":185450,"date":"2026-02-20T01:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/185450\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:52:12","slug":"los-al-students-march-off-campus-to-city-hall-in-effort-to-get-ice-out-of-the-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/185450\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Al students march off campus to city hall in effort to get \u201cICE Out\u201d of the area"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo by David N. Young
\nLos Alamitos High School students gathered in the parking lot of Los Al City Hall Feb. 11 to protest the tactics being used by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of DHS.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of students from Los Alamitos High School walked across the city this week to send a message.<\/p>\n

In an event students called the \u201cLos Al Walkout,\u201d students from Los Alamitos High School walked off campus at the start of the second period on Feb. 11, and proceeded down Los Al Boulevard toward the Los Al City Hall to protest the ongoing activities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Los Al city police were busy securing a route and working with residents and businesses near city hall to ensure the safety of the protesting students.<\/p>\n

With drums beating, students chanted \u201cICE OUT\u201d as the throng walked several blocks down Los Alamitos Boulevard. The march proceeded to Katella Ave. and eventually arrived at the parking lot of Los Alamitos City Hall.<\/p>\n

Students carried homemade signs with messages like \u201cAbolish Ice,\u201d \u201cHate Won\u2019t Make America Great,\u201d \u201cIce Out,\u201d and some, as you might expect, a bit more irreverent and graphic. Once there, the students gathered in a huge semi-circle in the vacated city hall parking lot and, using megaphones, began telling stories about personal disruption caused by ICE.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who you support, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Independent, everybody should know that ICE is violating human rights,\u201d one student shouted into the megaphone. \u201cIt\u2019s just common human decency to know that what ICE is doing is violating every single human right. Get them out,\u201d she screamed as the students cheered.<\/p>\n

\"\"Students gathered in a semi-circle outside of Los Alamitos City Hall this week against ICE. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

Some told personal stories of how ICE had disrupted, and in some cases, broken their families. More than one student broke down in tears as they tried to finish their personal stories about various entanglements with ICE. Others expressed concern that the Joint Forces Training Base, a military base in Los Alamitos, has been utilized by ICE in the ongoing effort.<\/p>\n

One student, Isaias Alfaro, a freshman, said he attended the rally because his mother had protested in El Salvador, which inspired him to have his voice heard. He said when his father was alive, the government in El Salvador was using similar tactics, he said, when his parents taught him a lesson he wanted to pass on to his fellow students.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour voice is the one thing they cannot take away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to 2020 Census data, Orange County, CA, today has a highly diverse population of more than 3 million, characterized by major demographic shifts and a high proportion of foreign-born residents (nearly 30%). The population is comprised of 43.4% White, 34.1% Hispanic\/Latino, 22.2% Asian, and 1.7% Black residents.<\/p>\n

The students exchanged stories until about 12:30 p.m. and, following a moment of silence \u201cfor all of the ICE victims,\u201d they organized along the sidewalk on Katella Ave. in front of City Hall and began their slow march back to the LAHS campus, several blocks away (about one-half mile).<\/p>\n

Students cheered wildly as cars and trucks honked in solidarity.<\/p>\n

In an email, LAHS Principal Christiana Kraus expressed the students\u2019 right to protest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cLos Alamitos High School, along with the Los Alamitos Unified School District, respects the rights of students to peacefully express their opinions and beliefs, while remaining focused on ensuring a safe, neutral, and supportive learning environment. If any such activity occurs, clear plans and procedures are in place to prioritize student safety,\u201d she announced in an email.<\/p>\n

\"\"Los Al students, some tearfully, told stories about disruptions in their own families caused by the ongoing deportation operation. Photo by DNY<\/p>\n

Marlys Davidson, a member of the Los Alamitos Unified Board of Trustees, accompanied the group and spoke out as a citizen, not in her elected capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just so proud to see the high commitment, courage and confidence expressed by these students,\u201d said Davidson. She lauded the students for their integrity while protesting in a \u201cpeaceful and respectful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, as adults, could learn from these kids,\u201d she suggested.<\/p>\n

Moreover, many parents were supportive of the event; some even followed the mass of students, pulling wagons with water bottles and snacks for the students, like a wagon train of old.<\/p>\n

Robert Acosta, Support Services Manager for Los Al Police, said the department had set up an incident command center and monitored the entire event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent school-originated march, including the anti-ICE demonstration with a scheduled stop at City Hall, was managed through a coordinated, department-wide response,\u201d said Acosta.<\/p>\n

This was an all-hands-on-deck operation, with personnel assigned across all levels of the organization \u2014 from the Chief of Police through command staff, supervisors, patrol officers, professional staff, and our Volunteer in Policing Services (VIPS) team.<\/p>\n

To support the event, he said the department activated and staffed our tertiary Emergency Operations Center (EOC). \u201cThis marked the first operational deployment of our off-site mobile EOC, and it functioned as designed, providing redundancy, flexibility, and enhanced coordination capability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Key assignments within the EOC included Captain Gallaugher serving as Operations Section Chief, Lorry Hempe overseeing the Logistics Section, an OCFA Captain Cain assigned as Medical Group Supervisor and Nicole Saiz serving as EOC Manager.
\u201cFortunately, the event remained orderly throughout its duration. No escalation or ramp-up of resources was required. However, contingency plans, staging protocols, and staffing models were in place and ready to be implemented immediately if conditions had changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Acosta said the event validated both the department\u2019s planning and investment in the tertiary Emergency Operations Center. \u201cIt demonstrated our ability to support lawful public assembly while maintaining citywide service levels,\u201d noted Acosta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students were peaceful, respectful and well-behaved,\u201d he said. Acosta said there were no incidents and there were many participating parents who were helpful as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by David N. Young Los Alamitos High School students gathered in the parking lot of Los Al…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-185450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}