Hundreds of Dallas ISD students walked out of school Tuesday to protest the federal immigration crackdown as state leaders threaten to punish districts where walkouts occur.
At Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center in Oak Cliff, dozens of students poured out of the school’s doors and crowded the front steps at 10:50 a.m. They held signs, and American and Mexican flags, as they chanted “ICE out of Dallas” during their lunch period.
Rolando Valenzuela, a junior, said he came to the protest to support other families like his own. His parents came to the United States as immigrants and have gained legal status since then.
Valenzuela said he doesn’t think most people understand the hardships that many immigrants face. His father came into the country with nothing and struggled against discrimination to gain a foothold here, he said.
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The Dallas-area demonstrations follow a surge of student-led walkouts across Texas in recent weeks. It also comes amid state officials’ calls for discipline against students, educators and schools in districts where walkouts have occurred.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has spurred much of the scrutiny, including calling for students to be arrested and for staffers who facilitate walkouts to be disciplined. He also asked the Texas Education Agency to launch an investigation into a student-led walkout in Austin ISD, describing it as “political indoctrination.”
The TEA recently warned school leaders that districts that facilitate walkouts could come under investigation, potentially resulting in a state takeover. Teachers who encourage students to walk out could have teaching certificates revoked and districts where students walk out will lose daily attendance funding.
While state leaders called for a crackdown on walkouts, student organizers at Townview spent days talking to classmates and building support to ensure turnout, said sophomore Friuli Valles.
“If the smartest kids in Dallas want to walk out, I think that should be a sign that there is something wrong,” she said. U.S. News and World Report ranked Townview as Texas’ top rated campus last year.
On Monday, a group of 39 Texas House Democrats sent a letter to state Education Commissioner Mike Morath asking for clarification on the TEA’s guidance.
Among other questions, the lawmakers asked Morath to explain how the agency defines “encouragement” and “facilitation” by a teacher or district, and whether a district that coordinates with walkout organizers to keep participants safe would fall into those categories. Lawmakers also asked when a violation of the guidance could trigger a state takeover.
A TEA spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Dallas Morning News.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton separately opened a probe into Austin ISD last week. He accused district officials of “trying to impose their radical political agenda on the next generation” by allowing students to walk out.
On Monday, Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde sent parents an email advising them of TEA’s updated guidance on walkouts and the potential consequences for students, teachers and districts. The email included no consequences imposed by the district or details about any anticipated walkouts.
In North Texas, hundreds of students in the Fort Worth, Birdville, Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Forney ISDs, among other districts, have staged walkouts in protest of federal immigration policy, including the ICE crackdown in Minnesota.
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Forney ISD officials said the district did not condone or facilitate the walkout. School staff can’t force students to stay on campus, officials said, but they noted that students who skip class will be given unexcused absences and could incur further discipline, per the district’s student handbook.
The student walkouts across Texas have been overwhelmingly peaceful. But a Kyle man was arrested last week following a fight with student protesters from Hays Consolidated ISD. The fight was captured on video. Chad Michael Watts, 45, faces two counts of assault causing bodily injury.
The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts have shaken communities across North Texas over the past year as federal officials follow through on a campaign promise of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. The administration has said it will prioritize targeting the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
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Dallas ICE officers, who operate in 128 North Texas counties and the entire state of Oklahoma, arrested more than 12,000 people in 2025 after Trump took office. A Dallas Morning News analysis of immigration enforcement data found that during the first nine months of Trump’s second term, 62% of those arrested by agents in the Dallas office had not been convicted of crimes.
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Families and communities have been on high alert after the Trump administration removed longstanding federal protections that barred immigration enforcement agents from operating in or near public schools.
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In June, community members called on Dallas ISD to ban immigration enforcement officials from all school property. Photos of ICE agents near two Bachman Lake neighborhood schools prompted concerns that the federal agency was targeting Dallas schools for enforcement. District officials and an ICE spokesperson said immigration enforcement agents were in the area but not on a school campus.
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In recent years, Dallas ISD has compiled community resources for families related to immigration and emergency preparedness. An FAQ on the website advises that, should a parent be detained during school hours, Dallas ISD staff will keep students safe until an “authorized adult” can pick them up.
“Children have a constitutional right to have equal access to education regardless of their immigration status or their parents’ status,” it reads. “That right cannot be taken away.”
Tuesday’s demonstrations aren’t the first walkouts in Dallas ISD in recent years. In 2023, hundreds of Townview students walked out to protest gun violence. That demonstration came just weeks after shootings at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas ISD and Lamar High School in Arlington ISD.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.