Hutto, Taylor see peaceful marches
Scores of east Wilco high school students staged walkouts this week to protest deportation operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Officials with both the Taylor and Hutto independent school districts noted campus officials did not support the exodus.
Educators also said the students would be handed an unexcused absence if they skipped class.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday said school districts could face legal liabilities and potential funding cuts if they allowed or encouraged students to leave a campus.
Early Friday, the Taylor Independent School District sent out a message to students’ families about the potential impact to pupils from unexcused absences.
“Taylor ISD does not support or condone student walkouts. Any walkouts that take place are not school-sanctioned,” school officials said.
Police in both Hutto and Taylor monitored the marches, saying they were present to ensure safety and not interfere with the protests.
The Taylor High School walkout took place Friday morning as groups of students holding colorful signs gathered at Second and North Main streets.
Hutto High School students staged a similar protest Feb. 5. They left the school and marched across U.S. 79 to Hutto City Hall.
Chants of “No More ICE” and “Viva Mexico,” among others, were yelled by students protesting the shooting deaths of an activist and a nurse during altercations with federal agents in Minneapolis.
Demonstrations against ICE have ramped up in the wake of efforts by the Trump administration to find and deport undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds. Critics claim federal agents are targeting anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or who doesn’t have a verified status to be in the country. They also have accused ICE of racial profiling.
Meanwhile, freespeech advocates have argued the students and others nationwide staging the protests are only exercising their First Amendment right to voice their views and to assemble in a peaceful fashion.
