Pomona Unified School District

Pomona Students Gather in Protest as Part of Nationwide Action Against ICE

Photography Julian Lucas ©2026

Pomona, CA — On Friday morning, January 30, 2026, students from Pomona High School, Garey High School, The School of Arts and Enterprise, and Village Academy all gathered at the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Garey Avenue to protest federal immigration enforcement and recent deaths in ICE custody. The demonstration took place alongside similar actions occurring across the country, including in Los Angeles and New York City.

A large group of students moved through the intersection carrying handmade signs, forming a loud and visible protest against Immigration enforcement. School leadership were present alongside the students as the demonstration continued through the area.

The protest coincided with a nationally circulated call for a “no work, no school, no shopping” day of action, promoted online in response to deaths reported in ICE detention facilities earlier this month. While there was no visible central organizer or formal program in Pomona, the messaging echoed themes seen in protests elsewhere: opposition to ICE’s role in immigration enforcement and anger over deaths occurring while individuals were in federal custody.

Students carried signs criticizing ICE directly, mixing humor and frustration. Several participants waved Mexican, American, Puerto Rican Flags. An altered American flag appeared among the crowd, its imagery repurposed to question traditional expressions of patriotism.

Students chanted “Who’s streets, our streets” as they moved through the intersection. The group crossed Mission Boulevard together while adults supervised and guided students. Traffic slowed and stopped, with some motorists honking in solidarity while others supported as they watched quietly and raised a fist from their out the windows of their vehicles.

The demonstration remained peaceful throughout. No police presence, and there were no visible confrontations.

Pomona has long been shaped by immigration policy in ways that are felt directly by families, schools, and neighborhoods. For many of the students present, the issue was not abstract or ideological but rooted in personal and family experience. The absence of formal structure gave the protest an organic quality, less a rally than a collective decision to be seen.

A review of public district communications did not show any official statements from Pomona Unified School District or individual high schools regarding the student gathering as of publication. While school districts and city officials had not issued public statements, the gathering reflects a broader pattern of youth political activity taking place nationwide in early 2026. The students who gathered in Pomona placed themselves visibly within that national moment.

Julian Lucas is a darkroom photographer, writer, and a bookseller, though photography remains his primary language. He is the founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan, and creator of Book-Store and Print Pomona Art Book Fair. And yes he will charge you 2.5 Million for event photography.

Pomona Unified School District Teachers Want Better Pay and Benefits

Photography ©Julian Lucas 2024

Published January 18, 2024 3:15pm PST

On Wednesday, January 18th, hundreds of Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) teachers rallied in front of the District offices, for a variety of reasons, but the number one reason was low pay. At this time. PUSD’s teacher union, Associated Pomona Teachers (APT), is asking for a 12% raise, but so far, the District has simply returned with a low-ball counter-offer of 5%.

Associated Pomona Teachers (APT), states that the low pay makes it difficult for the District to retain teachers, and that this often causes positions to go unfilled. They maintain that too often students end up in classes conducted by a series of multiple long term substitutes. In particular, PUSD is having a difficult time filling its Special Education positions.

The APTbargaining team states that the District is more than able to pay this salary increase due to the fact that the District is carrying $140 million over from the previous year, as it has for many previous years. APT asserts that holding this much money in reserve deprives students of services that they deserve. 

Actions like this are taking place in California’s 1000 public school districts across the state. Teachers’ pay, low to begin with, has not kept pace with the high cost of living, inflation and increased demands of the job. That said, Pomona teachers, in particular, suffer from low pay. A quick comparison of teacher salaries in other districts exposes the fact that Pomona teachers are coming up short. 

A Claremont Unified School District teacher who had been teaching for ten years with an MA degree now earns $96,557. A Chaffey Unified School District teacher who has been teaching for ten years with an MA degree now earns $111,706.

Last year, a Pomona Unified School District teacher who taught for ten years with an MA degree earned $88,922. Pomona USD teachers have been asking for a significant pay raise for some time now. This time round will they receive the kind of raise that would put them on even ground with other teachers in neighboring districts?

Julian Lucas is a traditional darkroom photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer. But don’t ever ask him to take photos of weddings, quinceñeras, birthdays. He’ll charge you 100,000,000

Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, BOOK-STORE, and publisher of The Pomonan.