SC students again walk out to protest ICE after Minnesota shooting
For the second time in as many weeks, Midlands students walked out of classes on Friday in protests against actions by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The protests come as activists around the country called for a nationwide general strike Friday, asking people to walk out of work and school, and avoid shopping, following the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.
State House rally
Bundled in coats and scarves, hundreds met at the South Carolina State House Friday afternoon. Protesters compared U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and ICE to domestic terrorism, others shared an ICE reporting hotline. They were met with a symphony of car horns and cheers from Gervais Street.
“Today we come together and we say: disrupt the system that disrupts the lives of the people in our community,” Dylan Gunnels, founder of The Agape Table, told the crowd. The Agape Table is an organization that curates sacred spaces of healing for queer people in South Carolina.
School walkouts
Dozens of students gathered on the University of South Carolina’s campus to join Friday’s larger protest at the State House, voicing opposition to local and national ICE activity and calling on legislators to oppose a bill introduced this year, which would require South Carolina law enforcement agencies to partner federal immigration enforcement.
“I can’t stand our government. As a person of color, I want more for my people,” said Jerard Austin, a USC senior. “I want more for all people.”
USC students were joined by longtime USC campus activist and Upstate congressional candidate Courtney McClain, as well as Richland County Councilwoman Allison Terracio.
High school students from River Bluff High School and Lexington High School were also in attendance. Some walkouts were planned at local high schools around the Midlands, though it is not yet clear whether they happened. Hundreds of high school students participated in walkouts to protest ICE Jan. 20.
Earlier in the week, students, activists and faith leaders met on campus to announce the walkout. State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, who is running for governor, spoke at the event in solidarity with the group.
“The things that we are seeing in Minnesota and Los Angeles are atrocious, but I want you to remember there is nothing new under the sun,” Johnson said Wednesday. “We have seen this over and over and over again, but this time, this time, it will be different... America has a brighter tomorrow.”
Irmo protest
The protests spread beyond Columbia. On Thursday, about 50 people gathered with signs on a sidewalk near the heavily-trafficked intersection of Lake Murray Boulevard and St. Andrews Road in Irmo during the afternoon rush hour.
Organizer Julie Zimmerman said she wanted to give people in the suburbs an opportunity to express their anger over the killing of U.S. citizens by ICE without having to travel to downtown Columbia.
“We also did this to let immigrants know that they aren’t alone, and to let people who are afraid to speak their minds that they’re not alone,” Zimmerman said. “No one has protested in Irmo before, so I just said ‘Let’s organize one out here’... This is going to be the first of many.”
She initially wanted to coordinate Irmo’s protest with demonstrations last weekend, but postponed to Thursday because of the winter weather Sunday. It worked out that the sidewalk protest coincided with the student walkouts on Friday.
“We’re coordinating with the people downtown and we may have them come out here” for a future protest, said Zimmerman, who is planning to run for the State House this fall. “I hope we’ll see more in Lexington, Chapin, Swansea. I want everyone to know it’s legal to just stand on the sidewalk.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
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