More than a hundred Del Oro students walked out of their classes and off campus on Wednesday in protest of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities around Kern County and budget cuts affecting the Department of Education. The walkout was organized late Sunday night on Feb. 9 with students sharing posts on their Instagram accounts about a proposed protest for Wednesday, Feb. 12. Students from all Kern County schools were invited to participate.
The organizers of the walkout had planned for students to leave their first period class around 9:15 a.m. and march downtown to meet at Bakersfield City Hall by noon. Students were asked to create posters and encouraged to bring flags to represent their Mexican heritage. Students from Del Oro and Mira Monte organized the walkout to speak out against recent ICE raids in Kern County against undocumented immigrants and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashing the budget of the Department of Education.
Details for the walkout were shared primarily through social media, with students creating a group chat to exchange information. Del Oro sophomore Itzel Manriquez and Mira Monte senior Hector Hernandez were two of the walkout’s organizers.
Manriquez said she participated in the protest in support of her family and for others who couldn’t join in, as well as for those who were afraid to speak out because of ICE. She also said education shouldn’t be taken away because money is tight.
“Don’t let the lack of money kill out school programs,” she said.
On the day of the walkout, Del Oro students started to gather in the quad. Campus security and a few teachers watched as students walked off campus. Not long after leaving campus, students encountered drivers in cars and trucks who honked their horns to voice their support. People along the route also handed out snacks and water as students made their way to City Hall.
Del Oro students met up with those from Mira Monte while walking on East Brundage Lane. As the combined group continued marching, college students and other citizens joined the protest. A few people shouted at the protestors and said negative things, but they were told to go away and the students arrived in front of the Kern County Superior Court building on Truxtun Avenue.
A lady in a vest yelled at protestors to “Get up on that podium and tell them where you march from and tell them why!”
Hernandez said his reason for protesting was to inform students about what the consequences could be if DOGE and President Trump eliminated the Department of Education. He also said he wanted to speak out about how students and their parents were being affected by ICE raids.
“Students are always worried that their parents won’t make it home and are always on edge if ICE will burst through school doors,” he said. “I want other students to stand up for what’s right and seeing people like themselves can make a change.”
Both Manriquez and Hernandez said they didn’t expect so many students to participate in the protest, which reportedly also included teens from Foothill, South and Golden Valley.
