Approximately 30 to 40 Bensalem High School students walked out of class Tuesday morning in protest of I.C.E. operations, marching from the school to the Bensalem Center along Hulmeville Road before delivering speeches at the Bensalem Branch of The Bucks County Free Library.
The walkout — which students had been planning for more than a week — proceeded peacefully and without incident, despite the administration’s decision to deny permission for students to leave the building.
The Walkout
Students exited through the front doors of the school shortly before 11 a.m., walking past Principal Geoffrey Per and police officers stationed at the entrance. Bensalem Township Councilman Joey Wenzel Jr. had posted on Facebook ahead of the event that the Council requested Bensalem Police be on high alert, citing threats against students at nearby Pennsbury and Neshaminy high schools.
The marchers carried signs and flags as they made their way along Hulmeville Road toward the Bensalem Center. According to Mariam, a Bensalem High School student who participated in the walkout, the response from the community was largely supportive. Drivers honked in solidarity, parents waved with their children, and as the group passed Benjamin Rush Elementary School, students at recess ran to the fence to cheer.
“It paled in comparison to the overwhelming amount of support the streets of Bensalem showed us,” Mariam said.
The group gathered at the Bucks County Free Library, where several students delivered speeches connecting federal immigration enforcement to local concerns — including the financial pressures facing the Bensalem Township School District.
Students who walked out were not permitted to re-enter the building and had to carry their belongings with them for the duration of the march.
Inside the School
Meanwhile, a separate group of students participated in the administration’s approved alternative — a supervised forum in the school gymnasium during the last period of the day. Students there also delivered speeches about immigration enforcement and its impact on the Bensalem community.
The two groups reflected a divide that had emerged in the days leading up to Tuesday. Some students felt that confining the protest to the gym undermined its purpose, while others chose the indoor option to avoid potential disciplinary consequences. Both groups shared the same core cause: opposition to any ICE activity in Bensalem.
Tensions Leading Up to Tuesday
The days before the walkout were marked by friction between students and the administration. Principal Per held a meeting with roughly 200 students last Friday and made a school-wide announcement on Tuesday morning in an effort to discourage the walkout. According to students, some of the principal’s remarks were perceived as dismissive of their motivations, contributing to a sense of frustration among those committed to walking out.
Students also reported receiving threats via social media in the days surrounding the protest. Bensalem Weekly has been unable to verify these claims independently.
In his letter to families on Friday, Per cited student safety, maintaining instructional time, and ensuring an orderly school environment as the reasons for denying the walkout and offering the gymnasium alternative. He said any student who left campus without authorization would face consequences under the school’s attendance and discipline policies.
Mariam’s Speech
Among the speeches delivered at the Bucks County Free Library, one student drew a direct line between federal immigration enforcement spending and the Bensalem Township School District’s budget shortfall.
Mariam, who carried a sign reading “FUND BTSD, NOT ICE,” spoke about the shooting of Chicago teaching assistant Marimar Martinez by ICE agents last October and connected the issue to the district’s financial struggles.
“Right now, Bensalem Township School District is projected to be underfunded by 6 million dollars,” she told the crowd. “Meanwhile, the federal administration has granted ICE 85 billion dollars. If even a fraction of that money given to ravage communities was being put towards funding public schools, our school district would not be in a financial crisis right now.”
She urged students and teachers alike to take the issue personally.
“We cannot allow the fear of being unsafe paralyze us into inaction,” she said. “We must take initiative: in our own education, in our own fight for our rights, in our own communities if we want to build a better future for the next generation.”
What It Means
Many of the students who marched on Tuesday are 17 and 18 years old. Some will cast their first ballots in the next election cycle. For a generation often dismissed as too young to understand the issues, the walkout was a statement that they’re paying attention — and that they intend to be heard beyond the schoolyard.
What Comes Next
It remains unclear what disciplinary measures, if any, will be taken against students who left the building Tuesday. Per’s letter stated that consequences would follow the school’s existing attendance and discipline policies and would be applied consistently regardless of viewpoint.
Bensalem Weekly has reached out to Principal Per and the Bensalem Police Department for comment and will update this story with any response.
This is the third in a series of Bensalem Weekly articles covering the BHS student walkout. Read our earlier coverage:
- Bensalem High Principal Responds to Planned Student Walkout
- BHS Students Divided on How to Protest Tuesday as Security Concerns Mount
Full Text of Mariam’s Speech
Last October, during an immigration raid in Chicago, ICE agents shot public school educator Marimar Martinez five times in her car. ICE proceeded to claim Ms. Martinez attempted to hit their agents with her car and that the bullets they shot into her were “self-defense.” The following investigation revealed that the opposite had been true, that an ICE agent tried to run over Ms. Martinez before blasting rounds of bullets into her, and then drove away texting his friends— bragging about the attempted murder. Another investigation also revealed that this act of terrorism wasn’t spontaneous— it was premeditated. ICE had been stalking Ms. Martinez’s social media and found a tweet where she exposed an ICE agent’s identity. They hunted her down and tried to take her life for using her free speech. Ms. Martinez could’ve been any one of us. In her testimony, Ms. Martinez said, “They are not targeting the worst of the worst; they are targeting individuals who fit a certain profile, who simply have a certain accent, or a non-white skin color just like mine.”
Make no mistake, this relates to us all the way here in Bensalem. Because right now, Bensalem Township School District is projected to be underfunded by 6 million dollars. Meanwhile, the federal administration has granted ICE 85 billion dollars. If even a fraction of that money given to ravage communities was being put towards funding public schools, our school district would not be in a financial crisis right now. Listen to me when I say this: You need to take it personally that the Trump administration would rather murder you than pay for your education. And I’m talking to the teachers as well: you need to take it personally that the Trump administration would rather disappear your students than pay for you to teach them.
We cannot allow the fear of being unsafe paralyze us into inaction. We must take initiative: in our own education, in our own fight for our rights, in our own communities, if we want to build a better future for the next generation. I refuse to live in a world where this type of injustice is happening. And when I look out into this crowd, I can see that I’m not the only one. Thank you.
This is a developing story. Bensalem Weekly will provide updates as they become available.
