More FCPS students stage walkouts to protest ICE. Additional protests planned
Lexington students at Bryan Station High School staged a walkout Wednesday afternoon in protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, district spokesperson Miranda Scully confirmed.
It was at least the fourth such event in two days among Fayette County Public Schools. On Tuesday, between 200 and 250 students at Lexington’s Paul Laurence Dunbar High School participated in a walkout to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“This week, FCPS students participated in student-led walkouts to express their perspectives on current events,” Scully said. “School staff worked directly with students and families to first ensure their safety and second to foster an environment where students felt empowered to engage with the world around them.”
Scully said the district appreciated the “respectful manner in which our students conducted themselves” and thanked administrators and staff for supporting the “peaceful effort.”
Scully said she was aware of protests happening at Bryan Station, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Frederick Douglass High School and Winburn Middle School. She also said Tates Creek high and middle schools were expecting demonstrations on Thursday.
The protests were the latest in a nationwide trend. ICE has been under scrutiny during President Donald Trump’s second term, as he has pushed the agency to ramp up deportations. But attention on ICE’s actions escalated after officers with the agency shot and killed two people in Minneapolis last month.
Such incidents have also drawn ire from Kentucky’s governor. Gov. Andy Beshear made multiple national TV appearances earlier this week, including on “The View,“ where he said “every ICE agent should be withdrawn from every city and every community that they’re in.”
ICE shot back on X: “we’ll continue to ‘withdraw’ criminal aliens from Kentucky regardless of your rhetoric, Governor.”
Walkouts to protest ICE had been rumored for several days last week, including in a letter circulated by a group called Kentucky Youth For Change, which urged all Fayette County high school students to walk out to protest recent ICE activities.
“Students from all across the district are organizing walkouts to protests against the Trump Administration blatant disregard for the constitution and the vile actions recently committed by Immigration Customs and Enforcement department of the DHS,” the Kentucky Youth for Change Group previously wrote. “This is district-wide, and we would like as many schools as possible to participate.”
Lafayette High School’s principal acknowledged last week in a letter to families that students there were discussing a walkout to protest ICE. There were no reports of that happening as of Wednesday night.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 5:33 PM.