Hundreds of NYC students walk out to protest Trump policies and defend democracy

Hundreds of students across the city staged an anti-Trump walkout May 27. 

Led by the grassroots organization We the Students, a student-led non-partisan civic group, chanting teens from more than two dozen New York City schools joined the demonstration. With handwritten signs aloft, they filled Union Square — protesting what they see as an erosion of democracy and an administration that undermines civil liberties guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

“Kids have so much potential to get involved, make change and really care about these things,” Nava Litt, Bronx High School of Science senior and founder of We The Students, said. “They’ve been searching for an outlet and a way to be involved in a community of kids who also care.”

Litt said she launched the student-led group in February, less than a month after President Donald Trump returned to office. The organization quickly expanded, establishing student organizers at 23 schools to coordinate the effort.

At the heart of the group’s mission is a commitment to uniting students across the political spectrum to defend universities and independent institutions, preserve checks and balances, and ensure the equal application of the law for all.

“It seems that what we’re doing is resonating with people,” Litt said. “The Trump administration is intentionally creating an atmosphere of fear in this country. So it’s essential that we unite, and that we speak out and say, ‘We won’t let you scare us,’ because our voices are stronger together.”

Among the key catalysts for the walkout was the administration’s intensified immigration crackdown. According to data obtained by NBC News, roughly 17,000 people were deported in April.

Litt pointed specifically to what We the Students sees as violations of the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees due process, such as the right to a fair trial or legal representation — protections she believes are increasingly denied to undocumented individuals.

The Fifth Amendment does not specify its protections are only for U.S. citizens.

In late May, federal immigration authorities arrested a Marble Hill student outside Varick Immigration Court, where he had shown up for a scheduled hearing. The 20-year-old Venezuelan citizen, identified only as Dylan, had previously been granted asylum under a Biden-era policy Trump later repealed.

The 20-year-old attends the English Language Learners and International Support, or ELLIS, Preparatory Academy on the John F. Kennedy Campus, an alternative high school for adults living in the U.S. for less than a year.

For Litt, the arrest was personal. She played flag football on the Kennedy Campus field. Now, she said, it symbolizes a deeper crisis within her community.

Margot Freudenheim, a junior at the High School of American Studies at Lehman College and a student organizer with We the Students, said the walkout demonstration offered a rare glimpse of optimism.

“It’s definitely scary,” she said. “But seeing the ability of young people to get together and coalesce around something important to them gave a bit of hope in a time when it’s hard to have hope.”

The turnout at Union Square exceeded organizers’ expectations. Litt estimated about 300 students would be in attendance. But, as word of the protest spread on social media, the crowd swelled to roughly 500, including students from schools without official We the Students organizers.

Litt said she received Instagram messages from undocumented Bronx students who wanted to attend, but they were afraid to show up due to their immigration status.

Some expressed hesitation over the potential school consequences for participating, but said taking action was worth “one or two detentions.”

“I’m really proud of how things went [at the walkout], especially because there were kids from across the political spectrum, and that’s the kind of movement we’re trying to build,” Litt said. “We think that everyone who can get behind that non-partisan, anti-Trump, pro-democracy banner, should come and join us.”