PHOENIX — Students around the Valley are coalescing around the issue of immigration enforcement, with hundreds of high schoolers staging walkouts this week to protest ICE.
Events around the country, and right here in the Valley, are prompting more students to speak their voice. They are also using social media like TikTok to stay informed and apps like Snapchat to mobilize hundreds at a moment's notice.
“People just started joining. We started adding people if they wanted to be added, and then people were like, we should make posters, and then we were like this is going to be peaceful, very kind," said Annalise Sandifer, a junior at Horizon High School who helped organize a protest.
Social media is how Taylor, another Valley high schooler, gets his conservative values out there. Taylor says the late Charlie Kirk was a big influence in his life, and he believes that more Gen Z peers need to consider his views.
“You know, I use social media to spark conversation, to spark people’s opinions, to challenge them and to see what everybody thinks, you know," said Taylor.
In the video player above, we speak with more Valley high schoolers about why they are walking out and speaking up about recent events nationwide.
