By Moriah Schranz
On Wednesday, Feb. 18, students from across Norfolk Public Schools participated in a school walkout to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Maury High School students joined the district-wide effort to express their dissatisfaction with ICE.
The protest originated from an Instagram account titled “NPS ICE WALKOUT 🚫🧊.” Their first post was on Feb. 16. and called for students across Norfolk Public Schools to walk out of school in “protest of ICE and the inhumane methods they are taking.”
Other schools in the 757 have staged walkouts. For example, 30 students from Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake were suspended after their walkout protest, according to WAVY10.com.
Maury took a different approach.
By law, high school students are allowed to protest. In the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines decision, the Supreme Court ruled that protests are permissible unless they significantly and materially disrupt school operations.
So at Maury, the protest took place at the start of the second period, from around 10:25 am to 10:50 am, in accordance with the administration’s guidelines, and NPS ICE WALKOUT advised students to stay on school grounds, bring no weapons, and use no threatening signage. For security measures, numerous police officers and security guards lined the street.
The leader for Maury’s walkout, Anora Cowell, had this to say.
“I think that ICE’s involvement in our schools, our lives, and our city is unjust,” said Crowell. “They are acting above and with disregard to the law. They’re killing and murdering and stealing people from our homes. Our neighbors, our friends, our family. They’ve killed people. And it’s not even just immigrants anymore. They’re coming after American-born citizens. I really feel like this is an issue of utmost importance to us, both as Americans and as students and as the next generation to lead our country.”
Since September 2025, there have been multiple reported deaths during ICE operations, including those that flooded the news, like those of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
When asked about how the administration felt about the walkout, Cowell explained that Principal Berg was “completely in support and very cooperative with the whole process.”
Senior Carmen Renn shared why she protested.
“I think they’re horrible for our country, and I think they’re the ones that are domestic terrorists,” Renn said.
There were rumors that people would use the protest as an excuse to skip class. Renn was optimistic that most people at this protest were there for a good cause.
“I’m very pleasantly surprised at the turnout,” Renn said. “I think that everybody has an opinion, and obviously, some are stronger than others. Certainly, some people are here just to skip school, but either way, they’re supporting a cause, and it’s better than just staying inside and being silent.”
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