Aurora students walked out of school on Friday in protest of the Trump administration’s continued mass deportation campaign, the second walkout staged by the city’s students this week and the third in two weeks.
The Aurora Police Department estimates that 500 to 600 students from up to 11 schools participated in the walkouts. Between around 10:30 a.m. and noon, the students left their schools, marched downtown and gathered in front of City Hall, police said.
East Aurora High School students were seen walking out and marching towards City Hall with flags and signs at around noon.
At City Hall, students were chanting things like “ICE out,” in reference to one of the federal agencies spearheading the mass deportations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Some blew whistles, which have become a symbol of resistance to ICE. Others held signs saying things like “Liberty and justice for all,” “Love melts ICE,” “Hate will not make us great” and “Families belong together.”
Between the protesters’ signs, Mexican and other flags flapped in the wind.
Meanwhile, cars driving by honked in apparent support as adults in high-visibility vests stood between the protestors and the road to encourage them to stay on the sidewalk.
For the most part, students remained on sidewalks, did not significantly impact traffic and complied with verbal directions, according to a police spokesperson.
No arrests were made during Friday’s walkouts, but police officers did address several reported disturbances, the spokesperson said.
Multiple drivers were issued traffic-related citations, including a vehicle that was driving recklessly with the driver issued multiple citations, a statement from the police department said.
At one point, a counter-protester holding a Trump flag stood on the opposite side of the street from the student protesters until he was chased away by a group of the students. Officers responded to a report of this incident, police said.
That group of protesters was then seen marching down Broadway before turning on Galena Boulevard and rejoining the rest of the student protesters through the Water Street Mall.
Around 1:30 p.m., groups began leaving the downtown area, separating into smaller groups and traveling to different locations throughout the city, according to a police spokesperson. Most activity was over by around 3 p.m.
But, after the downtown crowd had dispersed, an aggravated battery was reported in the 300 block of North Lincoln Avenue following a fight involving several young people, police said. The incident is still under investigation.
State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, attended the students’ protest. Speaking with reporters before the walkout at East Aurora High School, she said that she was there because she believes in the right to peacefully assemble.
“The students are our future,” she told The Beacon-News. “They are why I do the work that I do every single day, so I’m here to stand with them.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor ICE immediately responded to a request for comment about recent student walkouts in Aurora.
West Aurora School District 129 saw 50 students from its middle schools and 200 students from its high school walk out of class Friday, a district spokesperson said. Students from Indian Prairie School District 204 also participated in the walkouts, according to a district spokesperson.
East Aurora School District 131 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, East Aurora School District 131 and West Aurora School District 129 posted on Facebook a joint message from the districts’ two superintendents that discouraged students from walking out, asking students’ family and community members to encourage them to stay in school.
“When we discourage student walkouts, it’s a result of safety and a desire to protect the children placed in our care during the school day,” West Aurora Superintendent Michael Smith said in the video.
East Aurora, West Aurora and Indian Prairie school districts all said that students who walked out of class Friday would be marked as having an unexcused absence from class.
Both a Facebook post from East Aurora and the video message from the two districts’ superintendents included safety guidelines for students to follow if they did decide to walk out, including walking only on the sidewalk, not throwing items at others, having respectful interactions and following traffic laws.
“Videos from Monday’s walkout showed students not following these protocols — this is unacceptable and puts everyone at risk,” said East Aurora’s Facebook post. “We value student voice and encourage expression through safe, respectful means while remaining engaged in learning.”
In their video message, the two school districts’ superintendents said they were committed to finding a time outside of the school day for students and their families to make their voices heard in a way that is safe and respectful.
The Aurora Police Department, also in a post on Facebook, said Friday morning it was aware of several student walkouts planned for that day. Like the posts from the school districts, it also encouraged students to stay in school.
“For those who choose to participate, we ask that they do so peacefully, follow the law and help ensure the situation does not escalate,” the police’s Facebook post said.
The Aurora Police Department increased staffing and worked with community leaders, event marshals and organizers to have open lines of communication, to monitor conditions and to encourage peaceful participation, according to the post. It also warned residents of traffic disruptions near where gatherings would take place and encouraged travelers to find alternative routes.
On Monday, around 1,500 students from area schools walked out of school toward downtown Aurora. Three students were arrested during that protest and later charged with multiple crimes, which drew criticism from local officials and sparked a protest at the Aurora Police Department on Tuesday evening.
Specifically, the three students were charged with improper walking in the roadway, obstructing and resisting a peace officer, officials said. One of the three was also charged with aggravated battery to a police officer.
In a Facebook post, police said that two of the students were “contributing to the unsafe conditions” and were taken into custody after they resisted officers’ attempts to detain and identify them. The third student then “intervened and punched an officer in the head, causing a laceration,” according to the post.
Students were given many opportunities to move out of traffic and continue their demonstration safely, Aurora Chief of Police Matt Thomas said in a separate Facebook post.
As the situation continued, officers saw rocks and water bottles being thrown at police vehicles, physical fights breaking out among students, intimidation of passing drivers and reckless driving close to the crowd, Thomas said in his post.
An officer then approached two protesters who police believed were the main contributors to the ongoing unsafe and unlawful behavior, according to Thomas. He said that, despite clear direction, the encounter quickly escalated when the two pulled away and actively attempted to evade the officer, so several additional officers came to that officer’s assistance.
Videos circulating online seem to show what Thomas describes in his post: police officers tackling and wrestling protesters to the ground, and a protester punching an officer in the head. He said that the video shared online shows an officer tackling someone who appeared to be compliant, but said that the brief clips do not capture the full sequence of events.
The use of force is now under investigation by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, which has received all body-worn camera footage, reports and related evidence from the Aurora Police Department, the office said in a news release Thursday.
A comprehensive review of all available information will be done to see whether the actions were consistent with department policy, established training and applicable law, according to the release. Officials said that, once the review is complete, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office will publish a full report with its findings to the police department and to the public.
Villa, in a statement made following Monday’s protest, said that the videos circulating online are “deeply disturbing and unacceptable” and show young people being “restrained and handled like criminals in front of their peers,” she said.
“Young people from our community peacefully exercised their constitutional right to protest the harmful actions of ICE and were met with force and violence by the institution entrusted with their safety,” she said. “Police officers are responsible for protecting every member of our community, especially children.”
A protest was held on Tuesday evening in response to the actions of police at the Monday event and the arrest of three students during the walkout. Those protesters, standing in front of the Aurora Police Department, chanted and held signs against both ICE and the police department, called for the charges to be dropped against the students and called for Police Chief Thomas to be fired.
George Gutierrez, who was one of many speakers at the Tuesday evening protest and last year was awarded $1 million in a lawsuit against an Aurora police officer for excessive force, said he attended to hold the Aurora Police Department accountable.
There’s a right way to protest that’s respectful, according to Gutierrez. But even if the students did something wrong, he said, that doesn’t make it right for the police to use excessive force.
“They need to be held accountable, because they always talk about holding us accountable, but they never hold themselves accountable,” Gutierrez said.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch, at a meeting of the Aurora City Council on Tuesday evening, said he admired the students’ efforts to take a stand and make their voices heard but encouraged them to take an “alternative and equally-effective course of action” by getting involved in local community watch and rapid response groups or by forming their own groups to “strengthen the community response” to federal immigration enforcement agents.
If students are going to protest, Aurora wants to work with them to make sure their voices are heard in a safe way, according to Laesch. At Monday’s protest, many stuck to sidewalks but a small number insisted on walking in the street and antagonized the police by throwing water bottles at their vehicles, he said.
“I’m disturbed that children feel compelled to leave school in the first place and march in the streets over an issue that adults should be dealing with in Washington, D.C., but that’s the times that we’re living in,” he said.
After Friday’s protest, Laesch told The Beacon-News that students may not have been the most coordinated, but they seemed to hear the message about staying on the sidewalks. Plus many adults from local groups came out to marshal the protest, he said.
“The community stepped up. The police hung back,” Laesch said of the protest on Friday. “We didn’t have any interactions between protesters and police, which is what I wanted, and no kids got hurt.
“So overall, I think it was a success,” he said.
Student walkouts to protest ICE have been happening in the Chicago area since at least October, when hundreds of students in Little Village walked out of class after several people were taken into custody in their neighborhood the week before. But this month has seen a high number of these types of protests, including in Chicago’s North Side, Elgin, Naperville, Waukegan and Hammond, Indiana.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
