The Fight for Democracy Persists: What was the Abington Walkout?

On February 11th, 2026, approximately two hundred students attending Abington Senior High rose from their desks and left their respective classrooms to join their peers in a student-led protest calling for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The protest took place at 7:45 AM, with students gathering inside of Cafeteria A to begin the march. Through the blare of a megaphone, students were instructed to follow protest leaders Isaiah Tigro and Soren Lawing out of the cafeteria and through the student parking lot. All the while, chants of “we want justice, we want peace, we want ICE off our streets” and “no ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA” echoed throughout Abington’s campus. Once they reached the stadium, they followed the course of the pavement into the faculty lot and the marching halted in front of the high school building. 

When everyone was settled, a lane was cleared for speakers to begin to preach. Speeches were given by the protest leaders as well as others from the crowd that wished to speak. The walk-out lasted an hour in total, with students promptly returning to class at around 8:45 AM. 

The walk-out was conducted in order to bring awareness to the catastrophe that is ICE. From ripping families apart to the murder of innocent people, ICE has been a constant reign of terror over the entire country and does not seem to be slowing down. The only way to fight against it is to speak up and protect what you believe is right. Students were safe, responsible, and productive during this protest with no incidents occurring. Together, as a community, we should applaud their braveness for taking a stand against an increasingly corrupt government and expressing their constitutional rights in a way that is civil and respectful. 

Below are the insightful speeches delivered by protest leaders Isiah Tigro and Soren Lawing:

SOREN LAWING: (opening speech) 

Thank you all for coming out today. It means so much to us, and to our community.

What does it mean to be an American? If someone asked you how it felt, could you answer? If you could, what would you say?

Would you talk about where you’re from, where your parents were from? Would you say you’re from the south, the east, the north, the west? Aren’t these all arbitrary? Isn’t this happenstance? A combination of where and when and then and now? I think we’re all taught what it means to be an American. It’s working hard, it’s being independent. It’s life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We’re taught about family, about expressing yourself, about the American dream.

Why does that dream end with the color of your skin? With a piece of paper or a passport? Why are we so quick to exile, to shame, to beat and destroy anything that threatens our hierarchy?

This administration and the administration before it have established this precedent, that immigrants challenge our way of life. They use dehumanizing language, they call people illegal and alien like they don’t share the same flesh and blood as us. Trump is calling Somali immigrants garbage in the white house. They lie and slander to sway public opinion like they’re helping anyone but themselves. But they couldn’t be more wrong. Immigrants are the life blood of this country. Immigrants made this country what it is today.

My friend who could not speak today sent me this, and I want to share it with you:

We live on stolen land, is that not enough to this administration? Must we also live in a stolen economy and stolen dreams? Latinos fought for a place in the United States for decades, not only through under acknowledged protests but sheer determination. Latinos built their lives in America doing the labor no one else wanted to do. Latinos are the people who work grueling hours in the sun, who scrub floors, who have back pains every night doing the “inferior jobs.” Latinos are the people today fighting for an education, fighting to make it into competitive fields.

The people who constantly must put on a front, who must constantly perform to the best of their abilities yet will still be considered criminals with no basis other than the color of their skin.

This is the America we’re living in. This is our reality. Our neighbors are being murdered on the street. Our communities are being torn apart. Friends, sisters, brothers, parents are being locked in ICE concentration camps and taken from their homes because the Trump administration and its authoritarian agencies have decided to continue this legacy of hatred and suffering. We are losing our rights. This is about the law of the land. We are ALL entitled to free speech and due process.

That’s why we must speak for those who cannot, who have had their constitutional rights stripped from them. We must speak for those whose lives have been taken from them. It is our duty, and our future. And I know it feels hopeless when every small justice is shadowed by a greater injustice, but we must continue to fight and continue to stand up before we lose the ability to.

ISAIAH TIGRO:

 ICE has been running rampant for far too long. It’s time to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. I see the atrocities ICE is committing and I worry for my neighbors, for my family. I see children being taken and innocent people being killed. It doesn’t end on the streets, the conditions in the detention centers are awful and people are dying. This is the start of a revolution. People are starting to realize that things need to change, that we cannot put up with fascism any longer. I am lucky to have the privilege to stand here today and protest for my community and I thank you all for gathering today to do the same. I urge you, let this only be your first act of activism: mail your senators and your congressmen and continue to speak up and remember this poem:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists,

and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left

to speak for me.

*This article was written with the consent of Isaiah Tigro and Soren Lawing in using their names as well as their speeches; photo credits: Jackson Thomas 

*ABINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ANYTHING WRITTEN IN THIS ARTICLE