A San Diego-area school district has expunged the suspension of a student who created flyers supporting federal immigration enforcement after a civil rights group got involved.
The unidentified male was suspended in February after he had posted flyers at the school in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reading, “We [heart] I.C.E. – Real Americans,” according to a Wednesday press release from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). However, two weeks earlier, the school had allowed students participating in an anti-ICE mid-school day walkout to hold up posters with statements including, “If You’re an I.C.E. Agent Ya Mom’s a Hoe!!,” “FUCK ICE,” and “ICE is KKK spelled differently.”
The school suspended the student over the flyers despite the fact they were posted in a common area where other political flyers had been posted previously. Still, the school claimed that the student engaged in “harassment” and “intimidation,” by posting the flyers.
“School administrators can’t pick and choose which opinions students are allowed to express,” said FIRE Supervising Senior Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick, via the Wednesday press release. “Voicing an opinion which makes others upset is not ‘harassment’ or ‘intimidation,’ it is American democracy in action.”
The school agreed to wipe out the suspension after the student secured representation from FIRE.
Across the country, students have walked out of school to protest ICE, especially since Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers were involved in the fatal January shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis. Other walkout protests have generated controversy or have turned violent.
At Enumclaw High School in Washington state, police confirmed that two arrests were made, with one student being charged with assault, obstruction and resisting arrest, while another was charged with obstruction, according to a Feb. 13 Facebook post. During that walkout, some students targeted and assaulted independent journalists covering the event.
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