{"id":440625,"date":"2026-01-31T10:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T10:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440625\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T10:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T10:07:16","slug":"lewiston-high-school-students-march-in-protest-of-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440625\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewiston High School students march in protest of ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\tAbout 60 Lewiston High School students march into Kennedy Park on Friday afternoon after starting at the school and walking through downtown Lewiston. It was part of a student-led protest march against actions by ICE in the community. (Russ Dillingham\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

LEWISTON \u2014 It was bitter cold and windy Friday afternoon, but Lewiston High School student Evelyn Lenhert wouldn\u2019t have dreamed of missing the anti-ICE protest.<\/p>\n

She feels too passionately about it. She\u2019s too concerned about the prospect of ICE taking away her classmates and their families.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out here,\u201d the freshman said, \u201cbecause I fear for the safety of my friends. ICE could come at any second and I\u2019m just very scared about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenhert was one of several dozen students who made the march from the high school on East Avenue to Kennedy Park at Pine and Park streets.<\/p>\n

At the end of classes about 2 p.m., the group of about 60 began walking, holding up signs and stopping now and then to chant at passing traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo justice, no peace,\u201d they chanted, \u201cget ICE off the streets!\u201d<\/p>\n

The group moved quickly, from the school football fields, down Birch Street and toward the heart of downtown. They were unified by a single purpose: to let it be known that the students of Lewiston High School are not OK with federal agents coming to their city, which they say is creating fear and mayhem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re taking away people who don\u2019t deserve to be taken,\u201d said Madeline Card, also a freshman. \u201cI\u2019m scared for my friends, I\u2019m scared for my community and I don\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Evelynn Lenhert blows a whistle during speeches Friday afternoon at Kennedy Park in Lewiston as part of an anti-ICE protest. About 60 Lewiston High School students marched into Kennedy Park, starting at the school and walking through downtown Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Luke Horn is a junior at Leavitt Area High School in Turner, but he came to Lewiston to join in the protest because he felt it\u2019s an important cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out here to stand for people who can\u2019t stand for themselves,\u201d Horn said, making his way carefully along a snow-narrowed sidewalk. \u201cI\u2019m here to support those people who can\u2019t come out to be a part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students in other Maine communities<\/a> and across the country have been walking out of class in recent days to voice their concerns about ICE operations, which federal authorities say have resulted in more than 200 arrests in Maine through the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

In Lewiston, opposition to ICE has been heavy<\/a>. As the high school students marched through the downtown Friday afternoon, another group was waiting for them in Kennedy Park.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The second group, about two-dozen strong, was there to support the students.<\/p>\n

Julita Jackson stood in the park, enduring biting cold, to see her child marching in from the high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Puerto Rican descendant, I\u2019m here to support the kids and also to support myself as a minority,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cWe\u2019re just exercising our rights. We\u2019ve got to teach these kids their rights while they\u2019re young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next to Jackson was Erika Lopez, there to cheer on her daughter in the march. In spite of the 15-degree temperature, Lopez wore only a hooded sweatshirt with sleeves pulled up to the elbow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nylah Hall, middle, and about 60 Lewiston High School students march into Kennedy Park Friday afternoon as part of student-led protest against the recent ICE operation in the city. (Russ Dillingham\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re born and raised here,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cThe cold doesn\u2019t bother us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the students marched through the streets, passing motorists honked car horns to encourage the already energetic marchers. A few motorists pulled to the sides of snow-clogged streets to watch the procession and shout their words of support.<\/p>\n

Jackson, in Kennedy Park, said part of the reason she came out for the march is to see that everything was conducted smoothly and peacefully.<\/p>\n

She was happy to see that there were no problems \u2014 no counterprotests or people trying to interfere with the procession.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fatimah Alzamili, left, and Perola Meli listen to speeches at an anti-ICE protest Friday afternoon in Kennedy Park in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

After reaching Kennedy Park, the students paused to meet with those who came to greet them. Together, the two groups chanted and held their signs high. <\/p>\n

\u201cLewiston loves immigrants,\u201d one sign declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver-armed, under-trained, ICE kills,\u201d read another.<\/p>\n

A megaphone was passed around so each student could voice a thought or two about why they were there.<\/p>\n

One student said she was particularly inflamed by the presence of ICE in large part because her mother was an immigrant. Her mother lived in fear while federal agents were here, she said, but still managed to reach out and help others.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Puerto Rican descendant, I\u2019m here to support the kids and also to support myself as a minority. We\u2019re just exercising our rights. We\u2019ve got to teach these kids their rights while they\u2019re young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julita Jackson, parent of a student taking part in the march<\/p>\n

Others offered short but stinging declarations, some of them aimed at those who remain indifferent to the ICE operations in Lewiston.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t care,\u201d one teenager girl shouted into the megaphone, \u201cyou\u2019re not paying attention!\u201d<\/p>\n

That remark, like all others, was met by hearty applause, whistles and shouts of agreement.<\/p>\n

At the end of the protest, students began drifting away, headed for rides or walking back toward the school on East Avenue.<\/p>\n

All in all, Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said it was a impressive event.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttempts to divide our city are not working,\u201d he said. \u201cLewiston stands strong because community is our backbone. Our unity is our strength. And you are all a part of that\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a huge round of applause for all of you for exercising your First Amendment rights,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cThere is a reason that the First Amendment is first! If we can\u2019t have free speech, nothing else matters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 60 Lewiston High School students march into Kennedy Park on Friday afternoon after starting at the school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-440625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}