Students across Santa Maria banded together to ask the city council for legal protection from federal immigration officers. The students participated in a city-wide walkout from classes and marched to city hall.
In an effort to battle the mass deportations, ordered by President Donald Trump at the beginning of his presidency, the protesters are asking for a 2-mile radius of protection around schools, churches, hospitals and parks.
At City Hall some protesters held signs that read, “My parents work more than the President” or “My dreams are bigger than your walls”.
Local teenager Cesar Vasquez organized this protest. He walked with students from Righetti High School and urged the crowd to chant, “two miles” as cars drove by.
Vasquez said as the son of farmworkers, he understands the fear of deportation.
“I've had friends and other community members where they're undocumented, so they're calling their neighbors, or calling their kids, you know, to go get groceries for them because they're scared of getting picked up from ice,” Vasquez said.
He said he remembers what the last Trump presidency looked like for immigrant communities and he wants to make sure every child feels safe during Trump’s second term.
“Schools would be empty because people were so scared of being deported. Other kids were so scared of coming home one day and not seeing their parents there and not knowing what happened to them.”
Rumors of ICE coming to the Central Coast have circulated throughout local news outlets, but only a handful have been verified so far.
About 32% of people in Santa Maria are foreign-born, according to the US census, with many working in childcare, agriculture or academia.
