{"id":132937,"date":"2026-02-13T21:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/132937\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T21:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:46:29","slug":"hs-students-demand-voice-in-2nd-anti-ice-demonstration-on-staten-island-in-as-many-days-30-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/132937\/","title":{"rendered":"HS students demand voice in 2nd anti-ICE demonstration on Staten Island in as many days (30+ photos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Just a day after students staged a walkout at Susan E. Wagner High School<\/a>, over 100 students from Port Richmond High School held a demonstration against recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.<\/p>\n

The peaceful but at times raucous group of peers assembled just after 1:30 p.m. Friday outside the school grounds and proceeded to walk around the corner to the intersection of Innis Street and John Street.<\/p>\n

Along the way, students displayed signs and joined in chants.<\/p>\n

One sign read: \u201cOur parents fought for our future now we will fight for theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom and liberty for all but families are being torn apart and \u2018Animals\u2019 are being killed by ICE,\u201d another sign read.<\/p>\n

On a number of occasions, the students shouted \u201cF–k ICE\u201d and \u201cICE out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo justice, no peace, no ICE in our streets,\u201d was another chant that rang out as a group of students repeatedly banged on a waste bin at the corner of Innis Street and St. Josephs Avenue.<\/p>\n

Manuel Torres Mendes, a senior at Port Richmond High School, told the Advance\/SILive.com that he organized Friday afternoon\u2019s walkout.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201csick and tired\u201d of students not having a voice on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why I prefer to organize this, so that way we can actually speak our own mind and peace,\u201d Manuel said.<\/p>\n

According to the Mexican American senior, his sister was kidnapped by the cartel in Mexico and his mother subsequently fled the country and sought sanctuary in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically what we left is coming to our country, to the United States, where ICE agents are shooting up people, where the ICE agents are capturing people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sick and tired of what ICE agents are doing in my community,\u201d he added. \u201cNot just here in Port Richmond High School, not just in Port Richmond, but Staten Island, New York City, New York State and my country that I love. I don\u2019t hate this country, but I hate how the current administration is running it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked for his message to those in favor of legal immigration, Manuel encouraged them to do research.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you find out how the process is, you guys are going to realize, we have no other choice. We have no other choice to immigrate here \u2014 illegally,\u201c he said. \u201dWe have no other choice but to actually come here by person, rather than waiting for a process that takes over 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Markisha, a parent who declined to share her last name, did not know the walkout was happening, but told the Advance\/SILive.com she was proud of the demonstration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re fighting for each other, so that\u2019s something to be proud of,\u201d she said. \u201cThey go to school together, they live together, they work together, they are together; we are as one. There\u2019s no dividing us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harlow Gavins, an 11th grade student, expressed that by walking out she hoped to show that \u201ceverybody is human.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrants basically built this country and Trump is fighting to break it with all his nonsense policies and all the brutality that he is causing,\u201d she told the Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n

When asked for her message to those in favor of legal immigration and ICE doing their job, Gavins said the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in you guys, I trust you guys, but you have to realize that what Trump is doing is not constitutional. If you\u2019re for the legal side then that\u2019s great, go buy the Constitution, it was made to protect not only immigrants, but everybody that comes to America and is from America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI came out here just to support my fellow citizens. Nobody is illegal on stolen land, you know? And just F–k ICE.\u201d Reyli, a senior at Port Richmond High School, said.<\/p>\n

NYPD on the scene ensured a safe procession around the school perimeter and aided the flow of traffic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Just a day after students staged a walkout at Susan E. Wagner High School,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-132937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}