Students from across Texas have courageously stood up to ICE and rejected normalizing detentions and deportations by walking out of school and bringing their anger to the streets. In order to turn down the flame of the mass uprising against ICE, schools are cowardly listening to orders and retaliating against their own students by withholding graduation ceremonies, barring them from extracurricular activities, ISS, out of school suspension, and even sic’ing cops on their own kids before and during the walkouts. Local PD showed up at three students’ doors and interrogated students during school.
Despite these intimidation tactics, students still braved the storm and halted business as usual by walking out of school. They understand that there was a chance of repercussions but stood bold in the face of that risk and walked out anyway, feeling that any punishment they got would be minimal compared to the reality of the thousands of people being tortured in detention centers, of the families being violently separated, and of the people murdered by ICE agents.
Repression is something that is inevitable when fighting back against the mass deportation machine and if we want to build a force on the political offensive that can confront deportation machine, we must build a movement that can fight back against this attempt to stifle our fire. We take seriously all cases of repression and are working closely with these students to build support and a mass network that can take these cases and collectivize it because when they go against one of us, they go against the movement as a whole.
- East Central: As ICE terrorizes the neighborhood and builds a detention center down the road from their school East Central HS defiantly joined the National Student Walkout day to demand an end to this deportation machine. Leading up to the protest, school administrators were airing threats of suspension to any student who participated in the walkout. In the face of these threats, 30 students continued with the plan and walked out of class. As a result of their righteous defiance against ICE, all students have felt repercussions, with most suspended for over 10 days, two expelled, and one sent to a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program after being singled out as a leader. Other punishments include being barred from participation in the senior graduation ceremony and any extracurricular activities. All for standing up against the continued criminalization, kidnapping, and murder of immigrants. On the day of the walkout, Administration acted more like pigs than the actual cops, first slandering the student movement as violent agitators, then following and trapping students in a nearby cafe during the walkout and refusing to let anyone leave without giving up their ID and calling their parents. These students know that they are on the right side of history: they are not afraid and they won’t back down.
- Central TX: The day prior to the national day of walkouts local PD questioned students from 4 different schools. The pigs visited the homes of 2 students, alleging domestic terrorism charges. School administrators coordinated with police to pull 3 more students from class and question them on school grounds. This heinous example of targeted repression is a flagrant attempt to stifle the voices of our Youth. These disgusting tactics reveal the true nature of the so-called “justice system”: a tool to squash mass resistance through fear and intimidation. It is important to remember that at the end of the day, a pig is a pig. No matter if they are local PD, county, or state, they all are actively collaborating with ICE and will attempt to beat and intimidate you into silence. The students currently under investigation are not afraid of these bullshit accusations and will fight them while exposing the hypocrisy of the state. These interrogations did not stop the brave students from walking out of school the very next day.
- Manvel: When students held a walkout on Feb 6th Administration blocked and locked doors while snatching and ripping up handmade posters. They physically grabbed students from their backpacks, collars, and ID lanyards. One coach wrestled with a student to take away her backpack, forcing her to open her phone and delete anything associated with the walkout. Another Admin assaulted students, leaving one kid’s forearm bruised. They have given at least 4 students ISS and are threatening them with further punishment if they continue to stand up against ICE. This walkout came days before Alvin ISD was exposed for using Flock surveillance cameras and have allowed ICE to search school cameras over 730,000 times. Manvel’s actions reveal that they are complicit in the deportation machine and are more interested in serving as enforcers for DHS than protecting their own students.
Stand against Political Repression and join us as we build mass support for brave student protestors with the help of No Tenemos Miedo, a network of youth who are taking a collective stand against ICE, united by these four demands:
¡Alto a las deportaciones! Stop the deportations!
¡Liberen a los Secuestrados! Free the kidnapped!
¡Encarcelen a los agentes de ICE asesinos! Jail killer ICE thugs!
¡Alto a la repression! Stop the repression!
These students knew the risks of defying the status-quo and took to the streets anyway. Their bravery is a prime example of how bold, collective action can reveal the cracks in the system. We must stand by them and keep up the fight against ICE.
Talk to your classmates, teachers, family, and friends about how and why it’s important to challenge repression.
Attend our upcoming Forum: How to Fight Political Repression and Win to learn more from students and other defiant protesters who have faced and beat repression.
Hit us up if you have faced repression from speaking out against ICE. You don’t have to face it alone.
Donate to Dare to Struggle’s fundraiser to support activists building a movement against ICE here: https://gofund.me/a249920ee
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