Anita (not her real name) stood in front of Houston City Hall on Saturday morning as strong winds signaled a big storm was coming. The 16-year-old wasn’t worried about heavy rain. She and her peers have a much bigger problem: the threat of having their parents deported or having to complete their education in a country where they have no friends or memories.
“There’s a lot of paranoia, and it’s scary for some people to go outside,” she said. “What they want us to feel is helplessness, and we can’t remain stagnant.”
Anita, who is the daughter of immigrants, joined about 50 people at Saturday’s protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The teen said she also wanted to denounce ICE’s heavy-handed tactics but also share a message of hope for undocumented residents who don’t feel supported by their communities or school districts.
“Fear is their power, and our voices are ours,” she said.
The teen said the administration at her school, the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, has shown support for kids who are afraid and angry about ICE’s presence in the community. Anita said she recognizes her school leaders’ behavior is the exception and not the rule, and that’s why a planned walkout and protest at HSPVA was canceled last week.
Instead, Anita is organizing a peaceful protest with students from several Houston-area schools at 1 p.m. Monday at the Sam Houston Statue at Hermann Park. It’s the President’s Day holiday, so no one will get in trouble for skipping school.
“So many of us young people have this political rage inside of us and it’s so hard to find where to target it,” Anita said. “Having peaceful demonstrations is honestly one of the best opportunities we have to express ourselves.”
Backlash from Schools
Saturday’s gathering was promoted by immigrant-led civil rights group FIEL Houston, whose organizers said they were asked to provide a safe space for youth to express themselves. The event came in the wake of several student protests and walkouts, including one last Thursday at Wisdom High School, where about 100 students exited the building around 1:20 p.m., covering their faces with signs bearing anti-ICE messages. They didn’t march in the streets; they simply went home.
Ruth Kravetz, co-founder of Houston Community Voices for Public Education, said the walkout at Wisdom High was a big deal and students could be putting themselves at risk of suspension, which isn’t happening at affluent and predominantly white campuses. “It’s a completely heartfelt concern for their family members who are being persecuted,” Kravetz said. “Nothing about it is performative.”
Also last week, Houston ISD students and some of their parents held a “sickout” in which they boycotted school or work in protest of the district’s state takeover and Trump’s immigration tactics. The week prior, students at Cypress Falls High School walked out of classes and began marching in protest of ICE.
The punishment of students who skip class to protest federal immigration policies appears to vary by school. A “Know Your Rights” flyer circulated among members of Community Voices for Public Education, citing the American Civil Liberties Union as its source, claims that students “cannot be disciplined for missing class to protest more harshly than discipline for non-political activities like going off campus for lunch.”
Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for defunding public school districts and teacher investigations for allowing students to protest.
Adriana Piñon, legal director at the ACLU of Texas, said government officials cannot punish students simply because they dislike their message.
“Students do not lose their free speech rights when they enter their schools, and while the Constitution may permit discipline in some cases, it certainly does not require it,” she said. “Our state has a long and distinguished history of student-led protests and social movements. What the state is threatening, including school takeovers, goes beyond routine punishment.”
“Instead of targeting young Texans, we urge state leadership to focus on the message that students are sending: ICE’s actions are unacceptable, and immigrants belong in Texas,” she added.
Several students and elected officials expressed their concerns at a February 12 Houston ISD board meeting, referencing reports that about 4,000 immigrant students have withdrawn from enrollment due to fear of being deported.
Student Aubrie Barr said she helped organize last week’s sickout with the primary focus of opposing the district’s state takeover of HISD and told the school board she’d do it again.“Students do not protest when they feel heard,” she said. “Students do not walk out when they feel respected. If students speaking up feels threatening, then maybe the problem isn’t the students; it’s the leadership.”
Micah Gabay, another HISD student opposed to the state takeover, questioned at last week’s board meeting why peaceful protests have been classified as “Level 3” offenses, a classification that implies serious misconduct and unsafe actions.
“Now, when students try to express their beliefs respectfully and nonviolently, they face harsh discipline,” she said. “That sends the wrong message. It tells students that silence is safer than standing up for what’s right.”
Over the past few months, reports have come out almost weekly of Houston youth being detained by ICE, a break in protocol from what was advertised a year ago as a crackdown on undocumented violent criminals. Children also suffer when a parent is detained or deported because it creates fear and exacerbates the financial insecurity in a household, said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL.
Just because masked ICE agents aren’t posted along Houston’s downtown intersections doesn’t mean they don’t continue to have a strong presence in the community, Espinosa said.
People are getting detained at ICE check-ins, at their workplaces and at the Harris County Jail, he said. Those who go to the downtown Joint Processing Center — where minor traffic infractions are handled — and do not have proof of citizenship are likely to get slapped with an ICE detainer, Espinosa said.
“We have not seen a sharp increase of ICE operations out in the street, although we have seen some,” he said. “It’s not like in Chicago or LA where there are blockades. We get notices every single morning from different parts of the county saying ICE is here.”
In those instances, FIEL sends a volunteer with its Rapid Response Team to confirm whether federal agents are in a particular area. “It’s a fine line between letting people know and throwing our community into a panic,” Espinosa said. “We try not to post every single thing that comes to us because that’s all we would be doing.”
Espinosa says Latino neighborhoods in southwest Houston and Alief see ICE agents frequently, “but we’ve also seen an uptick in ICE operations in The Heights and River Oaks, mostly targeting gardeners and workers because they’re low-hanging fruit. They’re going to go to work and ICE just waits around until they show up.”
While there have been rampant rumors about ICE showing up at area high schools, Espinosa said those claims have not been confirmed. However, he said some students have reported that they’ve been told by adults at school that if they walk out in protest, the administration will “call ICE on them.”
Minors in Detention
About 3,800 minors under the age of 18 were held in ICE family detention centers across the country between January and October 2025, according to The Marshall Project. Hundreds were reported in Texas facilities, described as modern-day concentration camps, including the South Texas Residential Family Center in Dilley near San Antonio.
The food is terrible and minors are not getting an education while they’re being detained, Kravetz said. Federal law says education “should” be provided at family detention centers but reports from the inside suggest youth are given worksheets and may do lessons for one hour a day that are not necessarily at their grade level.
The Marshall Project reported that the number of children in ICE detention has increased by six times since Trump took office.
Espinosa said earlier this month he had to tell a group of young people that their classmate, a young woman named Estefany, was deported to Honduras. “It was heartbreaking,” he said. “In these quiet aftermath moments, I am reminded of why I exist and why we will resist.”
According to Espinosa, the child’s father went to an ICE check-in appointment and an officer asked the man where his daughter was. The father said his child was at school at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary. The officer allegedly told the man to bring his daughter to his next appointment. When he did as he was told, the father and daughter were separated and detained, Espinosa said.
“She missed school to go to this ICE check-in with her dad,” Espinosa said. “It’s a double-edged sword because if you don’t go to the check-in, you’ll get ordered deported, and if you go to the check-in, there’s a very high likelihood that you’ll still end up deported.”
The teenager was detained on January 30 and deported to Honduras on February 4. “She didn’t have a chance to talk to a judge,” Espinosa said. “Right now we’re trying to see if any of her rights were violated and if we have any grounds to reverse that deportation.”
Estefany’s best friend Ingrid attended Saturday’s rally and called for justice for the young people who have been taken into custody. “Estefany wanted to be in the medical field but unfortunately, she can’t continue her dream because she got deported,” Ingrid said. “I feel very sad that she got deported. She was like my sister.”
Students at Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center recently protested the detainment of senior soccer captain Mauro Yosueth Henriquez. The teen and his father were taken in December to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, and advocates said Mauro was separated from his father and moved to another facility on February 12.
An HISD student named Molly told the school board last week that her peers walked out of classes to support Mauro and because they’re “afraid of coming home from school and not seeing their parents there.”
“They’re afraid of seeing their friends being taken by ICE. To quote one of the students who walked out, ‘We just want to be free and live in a free country.’ Instead of supporting these students, school administrations threatened disciplinary action in retribution for protesting out of fear of Greg Abbott’s threats of funding cuts,” she said. “As these students fought for their freedom, [HISD Superintendent Mike] Miles and the Board of Managers has done nothing to protect the students that they’re meant to serve.”
Still in Danger of Being Deported
When Emmanuel González Garcia stopped showing up at Las Americas Newcomer School, his peers didn’t know what happened to him. His mother didn’t know either.
Turns out Emmanuel was held by federal authorities for 48 days. The situation left many questioning why a 15-year-old was detained for so long and separated from his mother when he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Conflicting accounts have been given about how Emmanuel ended up in federal custody last October. The boy’s mother, Maria Garcia, and Espinosa told the Houston City Council that the boy has autism and was approached by Houston police after he wandered away from his mother while they were selling fruit at an intersection.
Espinosa maintains that minimal effort was made to reunite Emmanuel with his mother before officers handed the child over to federal authorities. He was detained at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a branch of the federal health department that offers services for “unaccompanied alien children,” according to its website.
Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said during an October council meeting that Emmanuel’s mother contacted police five hours after the child went missing. When authorities located Emmanuel, Diaz said he claimed to be homeless and from another country. Diaz said police contacted the federal facility only after a Child Protective Services representative allegedly said it couldn’t hold the child if he was from another country and could not provide contact information for any family members.
Mayor John Whitmire said at the time that police spent hours trying to reunite the child with his family but Emmanuel had no identification and could not provide the names of any family members.
Espinosa was removed from the council meeting for causing a disruption when he referred to the mayor and police chief as liars.
Emmanuel was released from the detention center in November, and Houston City Councilman Edward Pollard announced last week that the teen is now enrolled at Wisdom High School, which “provides an inclusive environment” and is better suited for Emmanuel’s learning needs. The child and his mother have also moved into a new apartment in Gulfton, where they say they feel supported and are hopeful for the future, Pollard said in a press release.
However, Espinosa pointed out that until Emmanuel and his mother become permanent legal residents, they are in danger of being detained or deported. “They’re safer than they were months ago but we’re going through a lot of legalities with them in immigration court and there’s still a possibility they could be detained or deported,” he said. “If they get called in for a check-in, that will heighten our sense of fear for them.”
Many have asked, “Why don’t the undocumented just take a citizenship class and get their papers?” Espinosa laughs when asked that question. For starters, some don’t feel comfortable showing up at a public library for a citizenship class. Additionally, the process can take decades and cost up to $50,000 per family member, he said, noting that it’s easier for those who are married to a U.S. citizen or have American-born children.
Sometimes an applicant who is in the United States on a visa has to exit the country for two to 10 years while waiting on documentation, he said.
Is ICE Scaling Back Enforcement?
In Houston, ICE agents are taking a different tack than in other blue cities like Minneapolis, where, until recently, roughly 3,000 agents were roaming downtown streets and getting into physical altercations with some who questioned their presence.
Despite millions of people across the country, including state and federal lawmakers, calling for change to President Trump’s heavy-handed tactics in the wake of two shooting deaths of American citizens by federal agents in Minnesota, little has been done to signal that sweeping reform is on the way.
It was announced on Friday that because Congress was at an impasse on funding the Department of Homeland Security, Operation Metro Surge — the initiative that dispatched an army of federal agents to Minneapolis — would come to an end. It’s a small victory for those concerned about immigration enforcement but it doesn’t do anything to free the people who are essentially imprisoned in detention centers or who have already been deported, Espinosa said.
“Their interest in detaining and deporting as many people as possible is blinding them to what is actually happening,” he said. “When we see more industries and more people speaking out about what’s going on then maybe one day they’ll pay attention.”
Rice University political science professor Mark Jones and Renée Cross, senior executive director for the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, were the primary investigators on a recent survey that found that 51 percent of respondents in a sample set of 1,502 Texas voters approve of Trump’s immigration policies. The survey was conducted between January 20 and January 31.
Jones said the 51 percent approval rating on immigration policy is actually much lower than it was a year ago. “Republican support isn’t as robust as it used to be and Trump has lost most of his Democratic and independent support for his immigration policy,” he said.
“There’s near-universal consensus in deporting criminals, but in terms of the policy as a whole and what it’s become, what used to be a grand slam winner for Texas Republicans is now only a single or a double,” he added.
Last month, two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot by federal agents in Minneapolis. Houston residents have sounded the alarm that such violence could easily occur in Harris County if a strong message isn’t sent immediately to Congress and Trump that ICE’s aggressive tactics must be reformed.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, addressed a crowd via Zoom at the Harris County Democratic Party’s annual fundraising gala on January 31, saying that her community was lied to when Operation Metro Surge began in early December.
“They came in and said they were going after the worst of the worst,” Klobuchar said. “We supported help with violent offenders and we supported a broad investigation at the beginning when we thought they were just sending a few people. That’s not what happened. There’s been an assault on the Constitution.”
Lawsuits and Calls for Immigration Reform
Klobuchar, a former presidential candidate and current gubernatorial hopeful, told the Harris County Democrats that everyone in the country is sick and tired of the “chaos and corruption in Washington, D.C. right now.”
“Minnesota has been at the center of America’s heartbreak, but we’re also at the center of America’s courage and hope,” Klobuchar said. “Fifty thousand Minnesotans marched peacefully in -10 degree weather. They marched with signs that said, Love Melts Ice.”
It was an inspiring message that brought the crowd to its feet several times, but it didn’t keep anyone from being detained, arrested or deported that night or in the subsequent days. While some members of Trump’s loyal following, including Governor Abbott, have acknowledged that the ICE approach needs “recalibrating,” the narrow Republican-majority Congress has failed to budge on calls for immigration reform.
Harris County Democrats filed a lawsuit on February 6, calling for an end to racial profiling in Houston and seeking to stop ICE from “unlawfully detaining and abusing American citizens.”
“These actions violate fundamental constitutional protections and have caused fear, trauma, and real harm in our communities,” said party chair Mike Doyle.
Harris County also signed on to legal action attempting to thwart Operation Metro Surge. No Kings rallies are scheduled across the country on March 28. The Harris County Commissioners Court passed a resolution in late January condemning ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, with Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey casting the lone vote against it.
Jones said Americans are likely to see ICE scaling back the actions that are most unpopular, in the areas where they generate the most negative press.
“We are seeing Trump recalibrate some,” he said. “They’re ratcheting back their presence in blue cities and signaling that they’re not going to be as aggressive in carrying out widespread sweeps and mass actions in cities where they are, quote unquote, not welcome.”
The professor added that lawsuits can be useful in delaying a process. “Given the Trump administration’s lack of focus, delaying is often all you really need, because by the time the initial ruling is overturned on appeal, the Trump administration has moved on or adopted a different set of policy priorities,” he said.
Pollard and other Houston City Council members have questioned what, if anything, local elected officials can do to help residents feel safe as the tension mounts nationwide with ICE agents in metropolitan communities.
Pollard sent a letter to ICE’s Houston field office in January asking that agents remove their masks when interacting with people in the community. He got no response. He also says there’s some merit to scaling back “non-safety traffic stops,” which can lead to a person getting pulled over for a broken taillight and ending up in an ICE detention facility.
“People want ICE out of the community and I share their frustration,” Pollard said. “It’s a challenging thing because we have no authority to tell ICE to get out of Houston. That cannot happen. However, we are not mandated as a city or by state law to do anything to assist ICE. We have so many issues from a local standpoint that have to do with public safety that we could put our efforts and resources into. That should be our main focus.”
The councilman clarified that he supports law enforcement removing violent criminals from Houston, regardless of their immigration status. “I don’t care if you’re here legally or illegally; our efforts when it comes to law enforcement should be on those who are causing danger and harm to our communities,” he said.
Texas Sen. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, a candidate for lieutenant governor, called on the Texas Legislature last week to establish an emergency bipartisan committee to examine the state’s mandated cooperation with ICE and the safety, legality and cost of that cooperation. U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, called for an immediate hiring freeze at ICE.
While efforts are being made among lawmakers and policymakers to reform the system, it’s the children risking what they’ve deemed unjust punishment at school who are emerging as heroes in the fight against ICE, Espinosa said.
“From the walkouts led by Black students during the Civil Rights Movement, to the 1968 East L.A. student walkouts demanding educational equity, to more recent nationwide youth mobilizations, walkouts have consistently served as a peaceful and powerful tool for social change,” he said. “These actions reflect a long tradition of young people stepping forward to challenge injustice and expand democratic participation.”
Anita says she hopes that the mobilization of youth will get the attention of the federal government but also local elected officials.
There’s some ‘slacktivism,’ like just reposting an article from the New York Times that you haven’t read, but there’s a gap of knowledge,” she said. “There are people who don’t even know what ICE stands for. We want to focus on actual activism and education.”
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.