On January 29, 2026, Canyon Ridge and Twin Falls High School students participated in a student-organized walkout in protest of recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The walkout was planned for 9:20 am, with students who chose to walk out of class meeting in front of the CRHS building.
At 9:27 am, a group of around 150 CRHS student protesters left campus and began to march down North College Road towards Blue Lakes Boulevard. The group walked down Blue Lakes, up Pole Line Road, and down Washington Street, headed back to CRHS.
As the group travelled, they chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, ICE has got to go,” and “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here.” The majority of participants also held signs with anti-ICE messages.
Upon reaching the intersection of North College Road and Washington Street, the group split, with some heading back to CRHS and most continuing down Washington Street towards Falls Avenue.
The remaining students met up with other student protesters from TFHS at 12:14 pm, then made their way to their final destination at the Five Points intersection. The new group remained there with the last people staying until around 3:20 pm.
Faculty members are not legally allowed by State law to take any political stance in a school setting. Administrators and teachers alike could neither promote nor discourage the walkout and were instructed to remain neutral in class. Students who left class were marked as unverified, per district policy, for any absent student not excused from class.
Scott Thompson, CRHS Vice Principal, said, “My personal opinion is I think we should allow the First Amendment right to anybody. They’re able to voice their opinion, and hopefully it’ll stay peaceful.”
Police vehicles were present during the protest as a safety precaution.
Aaron Nay, the CRHS Resource Officer, said, “My job is to be an unbiased fact finder, keep people safe, help enforce the rule of law, and protect people’s rights. So that’s all the Twin Falls Police Department has with these types of things. We just want to be conscientious of not disrupting the school environment for people who are going to school, and keep people safe.”
CRHS junior Marley Haines said, “Over this weekend in Minneapolis, a man was executed by ICE, or at least murdered wrongfully by ICE, and honestly, more people should be outraged, and ICE has been a problem for a long time. [Alex Pretti] wasn’t the only person who was murdered, and it’s becoming a big problem. This isn’t about enforcing and trying to get people who are wrongfully here; it’s domestic terrorism, and it’s not right.” The agents who killed Alex Pretti have not been convicted or exonerated of a crime, and the investigation is ongoing.
Many students expressed their desire for community support and awareness, with some seeking national support to drive change at a higher level.
“Honestly, I really hope that this reaches out to other schools and motivates them to participate in similar functions to show that people actually care and want a change,” said CRHS senior Braden Barfuss.
“I’m just hoping [community members] see that the youth care, that this is something that matters to a lot of kids, and we see [the events in Minneapolis] and [they are] not okay,” said CRHS junior Anson Kendrick.
“The Senate is going to vote soon on whether or not to defund ICE. We want our senator to see us, and we want our community to come together to get ICE defunded and hopefully fight against them,” said CRHS junior Elizabeth Lopez.
“It doesn’t have to personally affect me for me to care about what they’re doing to other people,” said CRHS senior Rickee Carnell.
CRHS and TFHS students came together with varying opinions to “show that the community will strive in the face of adversity rather than crumble in the face of violence and death,” as described by CRHS junior Andres Torrez.
“I think everyone deserves to be loved and treated equally, and some people care about the land, but I care about the people. I hope this opens people’s eyes to the negative effects happening behind closed doors that we don’t know about,” said CRHS senior Brynlee Eccles.
“I’ve seen what has been happening in Minneapolis, and it’s just really scary to see state-sanctioned violence in our nation, and I don’t want to see that. I’m trying to get out here to try and help fight that as best I can,” said CRHS senior John Webb.
“Lots of families struggle to get here, and it is all ruined from ICE taking away families and doing a lot of unnecessary feats. I see what they do to my people and my culture, and I find it really messed up. I hope it’s eye-opening, that it shows people what ICE has been doing to us and as a community,” said CRHS sophomore Daniel Huerta.
“This isn’t really about politics, it’s about humanity,” said CRHS sophomore Krysta Swensen.
