Children shouldn’t have to fear walking to school. Yet for many families, that fear is becoming a reality amid increased ICE activity in their communities. A recent incident in New Jersey underscores the growing anxiety. NBC10 Philadelphia shared video from the Lindenwold School District showing students scattering in panic after spotting ICE agents near their bus stop. In the brief clip, children can be seen running from the area, some alerting others that agents were nearby. One student told the station, “I was so in panic because it was my first time seeing them in person.” No child should associate the start of a school day with that kind of distress.
NBC10 also showed another clip where some of the New Jersey students were also running away. A student even yelled in Spanish, “ICE is there.” A third video showed agents standing outside a house and waiting for someone to open the door. Apparently, they wanted a father who was living there. When his son saw the agents, he made sure to warn the other kids. To make matters worse, the agents didn’t leave the kids alone. A student who was interviewed said that some ICE agents were chasing the students as they ran away. Why would adults run after innocent children? The student was even forced to run to a neighbor’s house to hide there because her mother wasn’t at home.
The same New Jersey student also admitted that ICE operations make her feel sad because some are leaving the country without their parents. Thankfully, the bus driver didn’t abandon the kids. He circled through the parking lot several times until he made sure that the kids were picked up safely. According to the school district, the students arrived at school looking “visibly upset and emotional.” This is heartbreaking.
People Reacting to the New Jersey Students Running in Panic
A lot of people were upset after they saw the innocent New Jersey students running away while horrified all because of ICE agents. Since no child should go through this, one person wrote, “Children shouldn’t endure this.” Another person commented on how a student said that the agents chased them. “These kids are not criminals,” they wrote. Someone else said, “4th and 5th graders should not be going through this.” One TikTok user also asked, “How is this okay?? How are people okay with children going though this?” This made another person defend ICE and say that children don’t understand. In response, someone else replied, “Pretty sure they can understand when their classmates disappear…when their family members are taken permanently or randomly brought back after being traumatized and not knowing if that’s going to happen to them or not.”
More people sympathized with the New Jersey students as one person said, “4th/5th graders are 9-11 years old btw. Some of these kids aren’t even in double digits yet and they’re dealing with such traumatic events.” Another person wrote, “These r the same babies that spent some of their most formative years indoors during the pandemic, when will these kids get a break.” Someone else heartbreakingly wrote, “These kids, they’re BABIES MY GOD. I’m literally in tears writing this I seriously don’t understand why our country hates us.” One TikTok user also sympathized with both children and adults as they said, “No one, child or adult, should go through this! Its sad this what the US is today!” Children shouldn’t experience such a situation.
