A sudden vacancy in the classrooms plagued the high school on Thursday, Feb. 16. You may have also noticed the majority of the population missing was the immigrant community and people of color alike. This is due to an organized protest that swept social media through messages from leaders in the immigrant community and promises from workers around the country to miss attending their occupation for the cause of raising awareness to how much immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy. Okay, workers missing work does have an impact on the economy, and the protests do raise awareness for their cause, but what did students missing school do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I am not understating how important it is to stand in solidarity with the immigrant community that is at threat from the new Trump administration, but the protest by students only played into the hands of the anti-immigration community. A huge part of their platform is making immigrants sound like savages that are unwilling to adapt to the U.S, and if they see thousands of students missing school, what’s the first thing they’re going to say? It’s not going to be a respectful remark about how they’re standing up for their community, it is going to be an attack. The school kept on functioning as the absent unexcused rates went soaring up. In fact, seeing a school functioning without immigrants contradicted their point to the verge of irony. This only humiliated and worked against a very important cause to say the least.

I could never understand the constant fear that the immigrant population lives in nowadays. You should never have to worry that a busted tail light will result in leaving a country you love and being dumped into poverty. That constant alertness and paranoia is a very true narrative for many; however, there are so many better ways to show how important the immigrant community is and how much they contribute. Being successful. Nothing pisses racists and anti-immigration advocates off more than not having anything bad to point out. Dropping school for a day makes you look bad, but getting that good grade and getting into that good college makes the world of difference.