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Car Hits High School Student in Nebraska During an Anti-ICE Protest
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By The New York Times
Published 3 hours ago on
January 30, 2026

Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) on Capitol Hill, Oct. 19, 2023. A high school student in Nebraska was hit by a car with a mounted “Trump 2024” flag while she appeared to be protesting against ICE outside her school on Jan. 29, 2026. On Friday, Flood condemned the incident and said on social media that the victim was alert and talking after the crash. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times).

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A high school student in Nebraska was hit by a car while she appeared to be protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside her school Thursday, according to a video from a local news outlet and a statement from the school district.

Video from News Channel Nebraska showed a few dozen high school students protesting outside Fremont High School in Fremont, Nebraska, about 40 miles northwest of Omaha. They were waving the Mexican flag and signs that read “Honk for Alex Pretti, Renee Good” and “We are NOT criminals. We are dreamers.”

The video then showed a driver entering a red car that had stopped on the street in front of the demonstration. The car had a “Trump 2024” flag mounted to its rear window. The driver then accelerated, hitting a girl who was holding a poster and who had entered the street. The car slowed down, then sped away as protesters surrounded the girl, left lying on the street.

The protest, held around 2 p.m., was led by students but was not sponsored by the school, though there were school administrators supervising, according to a statement from the district, Fremont Public Schools.

“At one point, a few students entered the street,” the statement read. “One student was hit by a car that stopped in front of the crowd and then began moving.”

The student, whose identity was not immediately known Friday, was taken to the hospital after the local police and fire departments arrived at the scene, the statement said. The driver of the car was identified as a juvenile, the Fremont Police Department said in a statement Friday, adding that charges would be determined after an investigation.

U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., said on the social platform X that initial reports had indicated the girl was “alert” and “talking” after she was hit.

“This is not what we do in Nebraska — this is not OK,” he wrote, adding, “It is critical that our country preserve the ability of people to safely protest.”

In a statement, Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, condemned the violence and said local law enforcement agencies needed to carry out an investigation.

“Here’s a fundamental truth we should all agree upon: Political violence — no matter what — is never OK,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Sonia A. Rao/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2026 The New York Times Company

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