Hundreds of students from two Phoenix high schools walked out of class Tuesday to urge potential voters not to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Arpaio, who endorsed Trump’s presidential bid in January, is up for re-election after 23 years in his position. Last month, the self-described “America’s toughest sheriff” was changed with criminal contempt for allegedly violating orders to stop racial profiling of Latinos.
“Joe Arpaio’s got to go!” students from North High School chanted while following a pickup truck carrying a blow-up effigy of the controversial sheriff wearing prison garb and handcuffs, MSNBC reported.
Students at Maryvale High School, located about 8 miles west of North High, also walked out of class, local news station ABC 15 reported. Aerial footage showed hundreds of students gathered along a roadway and waving banners, including one that read “Maryvale against Arpaio.”
Arpaio and Trump share a similar anti-immigration stance, and the sheriff supports the Republican nominee’s proposal to build a wall along the United States’ border with Mexico.
Polls indicate that Arpaio is trailing behind Democratic challenger Paul Penzone.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said Maryvale High School is east of North High School. It is west.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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