BOUNTIFUL—In the wake of the deaths in Minnesota, 17-year-old John Alley, a junior at Bountiful High, decided he needed to speak up on a local level against ICE and send a message to the federal government to take action. Alley and close to 200 of his classmates walked out of class and gathered in front of the school on Jan. 30 holding signs in protest as cars passed by and honked in support.

“Obviously I disagree with what’s going on,” he said. “But after the deaths of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti it really felt like that if we don’t stand up and say something then the administration can really just get away with anything.”

After Ogden had their protest and a bunch in Salt Lake on Tuesday, Alley said that prompted them to take action. “We saw that and we said ‘well if they did it why can’t we?’ So we threw it together organized starting Wednesday and got a lot of people out.”

Close to 200 kids came out to support the cause. Photo by Rad Thornberry

 Alley said they saw the injustices. "We're students so we learn about history pretty much every day. It’s not hard to take a look at history and see authoritarian regimes of the past, how autocrats have risen to power, how democracies have crumbled.”

Take a look at history and take a look at today, he said. “It’s not hard to see the parallels and as the rising generation, it is our duty to preserve a safe and free tomorrow so that’s what we’re doing.”

Lawmakers at the federal level haven’t done anything to oppose ICE at all really, said Alley. “In fact, they’ve supported it. So we see that they're not doing anything so we feel like we need to do something to get them to do something and we see that the power of the people truly works.”

Just recently, Mike Lee caved to pressure, he said. “He received hundreds of thousands of letters and calls and he voted against a clear DHS funding bill and allowed for more negotiations. We want to see those kinds of actions from our lawmakers in the future.”

Alley said he wants to be a lawyer. “I want to go into the world of public policy and so I am really engaged in those kinds of public policy things. The fact that I love politics so much, I see the injustice really clearly because I’m always looking for it. It’s always kind of driving my career and education choices.”

Students walked out of class 35 minutes early from their third period, he said. “Walkouts make a much bigger statement than anything else because we are showing that we are willing to sacrifice something to make our point heard.”

Alley said his compassion for others came from his upbringing. “I’ve been raised my whole life in a family that are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve been taught to have empathy for other people. To love people, to comfort those who stand in need of comfort. What I’m seeing now is the poor, the destitute, the immigrants, being completely vilified for really no reason other than they have a different color of skin or they have a different accent.”

“I’m incredibly proud of him and grateful that he cares about what’s happening in our city, state and country,” said his mother Emily. “He cares about people who are not like us. It’s not hard to see that if you don’t stand up for everybody’s rights our own rights have no guarantee. I’m grateful that he sees that and that he’s willing to be courageous in a minority situation.”

It’s important to him not to be divisive, she said. “He wants things to be safe and loving and welcoming. But sometimes you just have to cause a little bit of noise to get people to hear you.”