Dozens of students walked out the front doors of Beaverton’s Southridge High School on Monday morning into the pouring rain to protest ongoing immigration enforcement in the community.

The protest took place less than half a mile from the preschool where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers shattered the car window of a local chiropractor and arrested him as he dropped off his two-year-old in June.

The Southridge students were joined by hundreds of their peers from schools across Washington County.

Increased activity by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol has rattled the suburbs west of Portland in recent months, prompting Washington County and several cities within the county to declare states of emergency.

The Department of Homeland Security reported making more than 560 arrests in Oregon during October alone as part of an operation the agency dubbed the “Portland sweep.” The Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition, a local organization that tracks ICE activity and provides legal support to immigrants, tracked 373 arrests across the state in November, with 130 occurring in Washington County.

Southridge sophomore Mia Flores Martinez told OPB that immigration agents arrested someone in her neighborhood before she left for school Monday morning.

“It really made our neighborhood shake with fear,” she said. “People can’t go out. People can’t go to work.”

Jesserria Sandoval, another 10th grader, said one of her classmates recently switched to Flex online schooling because their father was detained. Her peer, who only gave her name as Emily, said she knows several students who recently returned to Mexico after being separated from family.

“It was a really upsetting moment because their family had to leave behind everything at their home in order to come here and give their children a better life, but now they have to go back,” Emily said.

The students also mentioned classmates taking on extra responsibilities at home because their parents can’t leave the house for fear of being detained.

“I know tons of kids who have been impacted by this having to go get groceries for their parents, having to take care of the household, them being the head of the household now because their parents are too afraid to go outside,” Emily said.

Principals from across the Beaverton School District emailed families on Friday ahead of the walkout.

“Any student who has concerns about immigration enforcement—whether for themselves, a friend or a family member—is encouraged to connect with school counselors or administrators for support,” one such email from Tumwater Middle School Principal Matt Smith read. He attached a “know your rights” flyer to the email and offered individual support to families that need it.

The district also put out a message to the community on Friday, sharing the steps they’ve taken thus far to protect students.

According to that message, the district “requires training for all staff on policies and practices that support immigrant students and families, provides staff with regular updates on BSD practices and supports for immigrant students and families and offers a process for students, staff and the community to report suspected immigration enforcement activity near schools.”

Additionally, the district “outlines clear steps for staff, including bus drivers, to follow if they encounter immigration enforcement agents at school, on campus or at school events.”

Over the weekend, the Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest union for public school teachers, held “anti-ICE” trainings to share with teachers and community members what to do when immigration officers are at or near schools.

The Beaverton School Board is set to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday and will consider a resolution in support of immigrant students.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/08/washington-county-students-walkout-ice-arrests/