Hundreds of speakers urge HISD to protect immigrant students, defend student protests
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Summary
Dozens of elected officials, parents and students pressed the Houston ISD board to publicly reassure immigrant families, limit discipline for peaceful student protests and revise inconsistent protest policies after a wave of walkouts and reports of ICE activity.
Dozens of elected officials, students and parents urged the Houston Independent School District board on Feb. 12 to publicly affirm that school campuses are safe for immigrant students and to stop harsh punishments for student protests.
Gloria Marino, representing Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, told the board “schools have to be safe for every child” and urged a single, consistent district policy on student protest. State Rep. Christina Morales said students are organizing because they feel unsafe and unheard: “Our students are organizing because they feel unheard, because they feel unsafe,” she said. Several students and organizers invoked Tinker v. Des Moines to argue peaceful protest should not be punished more harshly than other rule violations.
Students at the meeting described a wave of activism this week, including a districtwide “sick out” and walkouts in response to reported ICE activity and the prolonged detention of a Sam Houston High School student. “We just want to be free and live in a free country,” a student organizer said. Another speaker said a classmate had been detained by ICE for more than 50 days.
Parents and union leaders pressed Superintendent Mike Miles and the board to issue clear, public assurances that students will not be targeted on campus. Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said school staff have not seen confirmatory communications about any staff training on handling immigration enforcement and asked the district to do better: “HISD has failed to share to parents a commitment for safety,” she said.
Board and staff responses at the meeting included repeated promises of future communications and reminders of existing public-comment rules; the district also cited limits on its authority to prevent federal immigration enforcement. Several elected officials warned that state officials’ public statements about punishment risk chilling student speech and called on the board to reaffirm First Amendment protections.
The board did not take a formal vote on a new protest or sanctuary policy at the Feb. 12 meeting. Speakers requested clearer, written assurances to families, a public explanation of disciplinary classifications (several speakers said peaceful protest has been categorized as a Level 3 offense) and fast, accessible channels for parents seeking information about safety and discipline.
The board's next regular meeting is scheduled for March 12, 2026, where speakers said they expect the district to report back on steps to reassure immigrant families and revise protest-related discipline policies.