Thousands of high school students rally against ICE in downtown Seattle
Feb 5, 2026, 2:21 PM | Updated: 3:24 pm
Thousands of students held a large anti-ICE rally in downtown Seattle Thursday afternoon.
The rally originated as a grassroots movement of high school students from all over King County. The students organized online and agreed to meet in downtown Seattle. As many as 2,000 students participated, saying they are here to protest the atrocities of ICE in cities all over the country.
“ICE is awful, and they’re doing horrible things, and it’s all bad, and everyone should be out here supporting that because people,” Sienna, a high school student in King County, told KIRO Newsradio. “Immigrants made America, and we’re killing them, and it’s awful. We’re putting them in camps, and it’s unfair. It should be illegal what they’re doing.”
They peacefully marched through downtown and rallied on the plaza at City Hall.
Students from multiple schools were involved. According to The West Seattle Blog, students from West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School walked out of class to participate in the rally.
Thousands of students are holding a large anti-ICE rally in downtown Seattle Thursday afternoon. (Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
“Unity and community are the most important things at a time like this to show that we’re all together and that we can lean on each other,” Kameira Johnson, one of the rally’s organizers, stated.
The demonstrators had the support of at least one driver caught in the traffic jam caused by the rally.
“The youth are the truth, they know what’s up,” she told KIRO Newsradio. “And I’m really grateful to them for holding it down for the Constitution and for the country and for justice.”
One organizer shared that their plan, and their hope, was for the rally to be conducted peacefully. Other than snarled traffic, there were no problems or incidents of violence during the protest. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) watched over the crowd.
This is a developing story, check back for updates
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