Fort Walton Beach high schoolers protest ICE in march down Miracle Strip Christopher Saul February 9, 2026 5:41 pm Fort Walton Beach Drivers along Miracle Strip Parkway in Fort Walton Beach and Mary Esther greeted about 100 Fort Walton Beach High School students with horn honks, cheers, jeers and several middle fingers as they walked down the sidewalk to protest the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency. After the final bell of the school day sounded, the students left school property and made their way to Liza Jackson Park on the Santa Rosa Sound to make their voices heard – or at least their signs seen. Protests across the country over the last month have, in part, demanded ICE agents who killed two protesters in January in Minneapolis be brought to justice. In Fort Walton Beach, organizer and high school student Lorena Diaz said the march was personal. “My dad just received his citizenship in 2023, and hearing that it could possibly get taken away just makes me really sad,” she said through tears, “My dad’s worked so hard. He got here in 2003 [or] 2004, and it took him 20 years to get his citizenship. And hearing [it could get taken away] makes me really sad knowing that my family is also in danger – of ICE taking my family.” As we continue talking, someone points out we have company. In the median sits a Fort Walton Beach Police Patrol Unit, facing the...
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