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Several hundreds of students gather in front of Amador Valley High School Wednesday as part of an anti-ICE walkout. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Students cheer as people driving by honk their horns to show support for the students. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
The walkout was largely peaceful and went along without any issues. saw (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Students chant “We want freedom, we want peace, we want ICE off our streets,” during Wednesday’s walkout. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
The student-led walkout started around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and ended just a couple hours later. walkout(Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Students hold anti-ICE signs during Wednesday’s demonstration. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Amador Valley students join a number of other schools who participated in an anti-ICE walkout Wednesday. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Students lined up all along Santa Rita Road as they chanted things like “We want justice, we want peace.” (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Wednesday’s walkout was just one of many several anti-ICE demonstrations that have taken place over the last few weeks. (Photo by Christian Trujano)
Hundreds of Amador Valley High School students filled the sidewalk along Santa Rita Road on Wednesday afternoon as part of a student-led walkout to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
At least 200 students held up signs and chanted things like “We want freedom, we want peace, we want ICE off our streets,” while cars driving past honked their horns in solidarity with the students.
“I just think it’s so important to show people who are suffering that we’re in solidarity with them, even if our communities aren’t directly being affected yet,” Malana Schreiber, a senior at Amador and one of the lead organizers for the walkout, told the Weekly. “It’s important to show that we stand with those who are (suffering).”
The demonstration, which started around 2:30 p.m., was one of several high school walkouts that took place Wednesday afternoon in the Bay Area — other participating schools in the Tri-Valley included Foothill High School in Pleasanton and Monte Vista High School in Danville.
Although the Foothill and Amador walkouts were not sponsored or endorsed by the Pleasanton Unified School District, school and district officials were on scene to ensure the students’ safety — and their right to protest — during the demonstration, which lasted a couple of hours.
“Our priority was, and remains, the well-being of our students and staff,” PUSD Superintendent Maurice Ghysels said in a statement to the community. “Instruction continued on campus for students who chose to remain in class. Everything went well and remained peaceful.”
Pleasanton resident Marna McEnery, who took part in last Friday’s #ICEWalkOut demonstration in Livermore, said she has participated in several protests and that seeing these types of demonstrations from students gives her hope for the future, especially because a lot of these teenagers will be of voting age soon.
“This is such an important lesson of civic engagement that: if you don’t stand up for your rights, someone easily will come along and decide their rights are more important than yours,” McEnery said.
Anaya Puri, a sophomore at Amador Valley, echoed those sentiments and emphasized how important it is for students like herself to voice their opinions and raise awareness to what is going on in the country.
“ICE is going to an extent which they shouldn’t have to go to and at some point it turns inhumane towards others and it’s also affecting many families around the world, not just in America,” she said. “If there weren’t protests like these, then the message wouldn’t spread across.”
McEnery also said that, in general, she showed up to the walkout on Wednesday to show solidarity with the anti-ICE movement.
“I feel like with my heritage as a Jewish American, if I don’t stand up, who will?” she said.
The walkout came a day after the Pleasanton City Council briefly discussed ICE and federal immigration enforcement following a public comment from Pleasanton resident and veteran Brian Jenkins where he addressed the state of the country and voiced his concerns about the risks of these enforcement actions, which have recently led to protesters getting shot and killed by federal agents.
“We know they are depriving people of rights, lying about who is being kidnapped and human trafficked and we aren’t sure where to,” Jenkins said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“The moderate position isn’t just abolish ICE,” he added. “It’s arrest and prosecute ICE.”
Jenkins went on to ask the council what the city is doing to prepare for the possibility of ICE and other federal agents touching ground in Pleasanton and what the Pleasanton Police Department is doing to “ensure our people are protected,” and to ensure those federal agents follow the city’s laws.
“Protect and defend the people,” he asked of the city. “Restore the public trust or risk getting voted out and replaced.”
He even went as far asking if the city would support some sort of nonviolent militia that would protect civilians from federal agents.
“Will you deputize our people to back you up?” Jenkins asked. “Will you tolerate a local, well-armed, well-regulated, non-violent militia for self defense to stand ready if or when we need to defend our people by any and all means when we are aggressed upon first?”
Following his comments, Councilmember Julie Testa asked PPD Chief Tracy Avelar to respond to Jenkins’ questions because she said “a lot of our community is feeling weighted by what we are seeing happen around our country.”
“We are in a challenging environment, I acknowledge that,” Avelar said. “We do not participate in federal immigration enforcement. We also do not communicate, we are not briefed, we do not know their objectives, their purpose, their legal authority.”
Avelar said without knowing the full operational awareness of a federal operation, if the PPD were to attempt to intervene it would create “confusion surrounding legal authority as well as responsibility.”
“For the police department to insert (itself) within a federal operation would be inappropriate,” she added.
Mayor Jack Balch added that the city is closely watching and monitoring ICE activity and referred back to the statement the city published in regards to ICE back in January 2025, which read, in part, “the city of Pleasanton does not intend to play a role in enforcing federal immigration laws. Our priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of all individuals living in our city, regardless of immigration status.”
Avelar also noted that any armed civilian militia is not a legal or safe public safety solution and said that “it will not be considered”.
