Around 500 San Antonio ISD students walked out of school in the middle of the day and made their way to the steps of city hall to protest ICE raids in schools and President Donald Trump’s executive order to undo birthright citizenship.
The Wednesday demonstration was one of many protests that sprung up across the state and country, calling for the federal government and the new administration to calm their efforts in arresting and deporting as many illegal immigrants as possible.
News of the walkout spread on social media as Mujeres Marchara, a women and queer coalition that organizes International Women’s Day marches in San Antonio, shared details of the protest’s location and demands: “Keep schools safe. Keep guns out. Keep I.C.E. out” in reference to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Alex Calderilla, a 10th grader from Burbank High School was at the protest with her mom Alejandra Huerta. The teen said she heard about the walkout from a friend and decided to attend for her family, who are Mexican immigrants.
Alex, who has a 10-year-old brother, said her family is taking precautions. They set up a plan in the case they got separated by ICE.
“If something happened at his school, we know who to call,” Alex said. “We save people’s phone numbers in case anything happens, and we just try to stay safe.”
Huerta said in Spanish that children with immigrant parents are scared and she hopes that immigration agents don’t start entering schools and churches: “Ojala que paren con todo eso de que quieren entrar a las escuelas, a las iglesias,” she said. “Todos los niños están con miedo – miedo de que se vayan a llevar a los papás.“
These were considered “sensitive locations” which meant ICE was not allowed to enter, but on Jan. 21 Trump threw out that policy along with others as part of his promise to deport millions by carrying out mass deportations.
Another executive order signed by Trump declared that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment will no longer be interpreted as granting citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil to undocumented parents. This order was blocked by a second federal judge on Wednesday, who said it was likely “unconstitutional.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed last week that it assisted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in immigration enforcement operations in San Antonio, but that they were only targeting criminals.
San Antonio ISD has informed parents that district officials are trained in how to act if approached by ICE. The district estimated that 3,000 of their students are potentially undocumented, though SAISD said they do not ask students about immigration status.
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act does not allow schools to share a student’s private information unless there is written consent or a court order greenlighting the release of student records. Falling in line with FERPA, the Supreme Court landmark case Plyler v. Doe ruled that states cannot deny a child public education based on their immigration status.
According to SAISD, leaving campus without authorization is a level two offense in the student code of conduct and consequences are at the discretion of the principal.
However, SAISD officials said district police officers were prepared to support the walkouts by deploying bike officers, drones and mobile units to “provide a safe passage to those involved.”
In a letter to parents, SAISD said that while students are allowed to exercise their rights to peacefully protest, they do not “recommend nor encourage off-campus protest.” Students do have the option to protest on campus during lunch periods or before or after school.
Some SAISD employees were present and openly supportive of the student walkout.
Adrian Reyna works from the district’s central office but taught history for 12 years. Reyna said he joined the students Wednesday afternoon to make sure they were safe as they made their way to the steps of city hall.
“I’m a proponent of what [the students] are doing, and what this means in terms of their learning and their growth,” Reyna said. “I taught these kinds of moments. I taught school walkouts.”
And Reyna couldn’t be more proud, he said.
“Large mass movements of people generally started by young people and unions are what have shifted policies and history in our country for the benefit of the masses,” he said, minutes after he paused to take some photos on his phone.
In a city with a majority Hispanic and Latino population of 64.4%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the student organized walkout is only the latest in the city’s history.
In 1968, 400 Edgewood High School students walked out of class and marched to the district’s administrative building to protest insufficient supplies and shortage of qualified teachers. It started a movement that resulted in the federal district court ruling that the Texas school-finance system was unconstitutional.
Alex said she hoped the city’s leaders would support their cause and some city council members did come outside to watch the protests.
“I hope they are with us,” she said. “I hope they don’t let Trump get away with what he’s trying to get away with. It is important for people to try and take care of immigrants and fight for them because they’re people too.”
