A Haverhill high school student is organizing a protest to keep ICE agents away from schools.
A high school student in Massachusetts is hoping to galvanize the public and show up to their first ever protest, calling on immigration authorities to keep away from schools.
Haverhill High School junior student Axol Cox, 17, is planning the protest after President Donald Trump got rid of previous policy to have ICE agents avoid so-called "sensitive" areas like schools, churches and hospitals when going after their targets.
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"Thinking about how many people who are my friends that are immigrants, just imagining them, like, getting taken away or hurt, it's just really scary," Cox said.
Cox will head with homemade signs to North Station in Boston on Saturday for the protest.
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The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office has issued guidance to all state schools on what to do in case Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up to their campus, limiting staff involvement and ICE's ability to access students.
"It's absolutely repugnant what's going on," said Haverhill Student Council President David Martinez about the ability for ICE to go into schools and conduct operations.
Martinez brought up the issue during a school committee meeting last week, where the schools superintendent assured the community that students are safe.
"Under no situation will we allow them to meet with or talk to children without parents being informed," Superintendent Margaret Marotta said.
Federation for Immigration Reform Media Director Ira Mehlman said there shouldn't be any area off-limits for law enforcement, arguing the new policy "doesn't mean that they're going to go randomly into schools pulling students out," only that it's now an option.
"Obstructing justice is a crime whether you're a school, whether you're a church. If law enforcement has good reason to want to go into a particular place to execute an arrest, they should be have the option to do that," he said.
The attorney general's guidance for schools is not legal advice or a mandate, the office said, and each school must respond according to their policy. But one other recommendation is for schools to revise their enrollment process by only asking for basic proof of residency and avoid gathering information on a student's immigration status.
Cox's loved ones helped them prepare for the protest.
"I'm pust really proud of Axol," said their partner, Fae Tyler. "I think they're doing a great job trying to change things right now."
"They've lived through a life of adversity so when that happens you often have a lot of empathy," added Axol's cousin Dallas Bailey.
