Students at Arizona high school walk out in protest of border agents apprehending undocumented peer

More than 100 students reportedly walked out of an Arizona high school Monday in protest of a classmate’s detention by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Pima County sheriff’s deputies turned Thomas Torres-Maytorena over to CPB agents last Thursday following a routine traffic stop, prompting the walkout at Desert View High School in Tucson, according to CNN.

{mosads}The sheriff’s department said Torres-Maytorena was unable to produce identification and told them he was undocumented, prompting them to contact CBP. He had been set to graduate May 22, which is now his court date for several traffic charges, including “displaying a plate suspended for financial responsibility, no mandatory insurance, no valid driver’s license and no current registration,” CNN reported.

“The deputy conducted a thorough investigation and utilized all resources available to him in an attempt to identify the driver,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “Identification of the driver was fundamentally necessary and required to issue valid traffic citations. When informed by Torres-Maytorena that he did not have legal status, the deputy contacted the federal agency in charge of immigration.”

“We’re here to get our friend back,” Daphne Anselmo, a classmate of Torres-Maytorena, told the assembled students on Monday. “This shouldn’t be happening right now. Thomas should be in class.”  

Sunnyside Unified High School District spokesman Victor Mercado told CNN affiliate KOLD that the walkout was intended to “raise awareness as to what took place.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.