OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — A group of protesters gathered in Oceanside Friday night in honor of an 11-year-old girl who died by suicide in Gainesville, Texas after her mother claims she was bullied about her family’s immigration status.
While the group was small, their message was loud.
“I came up with the idea to do this protest was for the little kids who have to do this alone,” protest organizer Elena Luna said.
She wanted to honor 11-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza who died by suicide on Feb. 8 after being bullied about her family’s immigration status.
“It’s unfortunate that she had to take her life because she felt that she was going to be by herself because her family would be taken away,” said Dulce Gonzales, one of the protesters.
Luna says her fellow classmates still feel that fear, adding she’s even seen Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers outside her school and at her bus stop.
“A lot of kids I know don’t come to school because of ICE because they know that they’re sitting outside our school,” she said.
Luna says that fear even forced some of her friends to move out of San Diego.
“It made me lose a lot of friends, but it made me also realize how scary it can be to know you have to be hiding all the time,” Luna explained.
The Department of Homeland Security reports in the first 50 days of the Trump administration ICE made 32,809 arrests, nearly half of those were convicted criminals.
The administration calls these arrests necessary to ensure American safety, but not everyone agrees.
“Especially for my grandkids, I don’t want them going through what we’re going through right now,” said Mario Melgoza Bravo, another protester.
That’s why the group hopes to see an effort to keep families together and protect the children Luna says are most impacted by mass deportations.
“Immigration isn’t a negative word. It’s not a bad word to say. Immigration is just moving around the world,” she said.
While Luna wants to see action on a federal level, she also wants to see local schools encourage ethnics courses to support students of different cultures.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
