Students heat up over ICE

Students from James Clemens High School took to County Line Road in the cold Wednesday to protest ICE actions across the country.

What they're saying: Fiona Paine, a 12th-grader at JCHS, said the roughly 70 students aren't part of a formal organization, just "a group of like-minded people from JC and parents and siblings."

• "I hope that the people who are being marginalized and who are being hurt see that they have people in Madison who support them and who want to help," she told Axios Huntsville.
• "We understand that ICE has a purpose in this country, however, they are a government organization and should be expected to follow the laws that the government was founded on: our Constitution," Paine said.

Zoom out: The protest started as a planned walkout, but after the administration warned of potential disciplinary action, students worked to find a solution: protesting after school.

• "We talked to our amazing principal Dr. Kerry Donaldson ... (and) one of our SROs," Paine said. "They helped walk us through it, making sure that we were safe the entire time and that we followed all legal aspects of it."
• Superintendent Ed Nichols told them how proud of them he was, she said, and speaking to media before the event Wednesday, Nichols said that leadership didn't want students to disrupt school or face disciplinary action.

"I'm most proud of our young people who decided they didn't want to create a problem, they just wanted to express themselves," he said.

• "We have 57 different languages spoken in Madison City Schools from 48 different countries," Nichols said. "The world has come to Madison, Alabama. It works in Research Park and at Redstone Arsenal. It works at Mazda-Toyota."

Catch up quick: While not actually a walkout, the protest was the third demonstration from a local school, as similar actions gain steam nationwide, and news reports say one is planned at Bob Jones High School as well.

• Huntsville City Schools spokesperson Craig Williams confirmed to Axios that students participated in a brief walkout at Lee/New Century Technology High on Jan. 30, and at Columbia High on Feb. 2.
• Madison County Schools spokesperson Jessica Aguirre-Cantrell told Axios that no county schools have seen a walkout and they haven't received word that any are planned.