Ritenour students organized a January 25 protest in Overland in opposition of President Donald Trump’s Administration’s immigration policies and the commencement of mass deportations and arrests.
President Trump’s administration has made quick efforts to remove undocumented U.S. migrants who were temporarily allowed entry during Biden’s administration. Over a million migrants were granted entrance into the U.S. under two Biden-era programs, despite protests by people who commented both programs were deemed unlawful.
Permission was set to immigration authorities to remove migrants who were given authority to enter under the two programs. The CBP One App, which allowed migrants to schedule their appointments to claim asylum. The Biden Administration also opened another legal pathway for individuals to flee from the countries Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela seeking asylum.
Sophomore David Cabanas rallied around 200 community members in regard to protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
“Their actions are tearing families apart and causing damage to the community,” Cabanas said. “(We started by) gaining supporters and starting off small so everyone can know who they are supporting.”
Cabanas’ protest was helped with the support of senior Ritenour students Yaretzy Medina, Gabby Aguilar, and Katelyn Quintanilla. They all contributed in supporting his idea and spreading the news of the upcoming protest.
“My reason to help out was to support my community, to use my voice, to speak up for those who couldn’t, and to get my friends and I to where we can make sure the message and our movement actually gets our voices heard,” Aguilar said.
Many residents have started to live in fear as ICE arrests were being made locally inside the St. Louis communities. This has caused individuals to become uneasy at work, public openings, and educational establishments.
“My friend David had mentioned a protest and I immediately jumped in. The week of the protest there were plenty of fears inside the community due to rumored ICE sightings causing loved ones to be terrified to even leave their homes,” Medina said.
This was Cabanas’ first time organizing an event but was able to gain support from his peers and family in such a short amount of time. This resulted in a conflict-free protest with individuals from close regional areas.
“We all pitched in to help by creating a plan, rules, and speeches” said Quintanilla, “I will admit it was rushed because we only had three days, but doing it under that time it went really peacefully.”
Cabanas also received guidance from other experienced activists in the area, local businesses, and protective services.
“We had activists help us get together, such as Kelly Lu who serves for Community Liberation Network, attaining street marshalls out and medical aid in case of injuries. The Hispanic festival helped out by getting a hold of a DJ for speakers.” Cabanas said. “One of the street marchers wanted me to contact him for any new protest which we will have and he said he will accommodate for tents to keep us out of the rain.”
The young individuals have future protests in mind and one coming up where they will be professionally establishing their identities and their reason for going through with these protests.
“It’ll be a press conference introducing ourselves and stating why we’re doing what is being done,” Quintanilla said.
