<\/p>\n
Gavin Pope, a teacher and co-founder of Young Democrats of Greater Comal County, speaks at an anti-ICE rally on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New\u00a0Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Gavin Pope, an educator and co-founder of the Young Democrats of Greater Comal County, speaks at an anti-ICE rally on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New\u00a0Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Gavin Pope leads chants during an anti-ICE rally held on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Gavin Pope leads chants during an anti-ICE rally held on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Gavin Pope leads chants during an anti-ICE rally held on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Gavin Pope speaks during an anti-ICE rally held on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New\u00a0Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Protesters gather during an anti-ICE demonstration held on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New\u00a0Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
Protesters gather during an anti-ICE demonstration on Jan. 31 at Main Plaza in New Braunfels.<\/p>\n
Charlie Blalock\/Contributor<\/p>\n
When Gavin Pope went to a federal immigrant detention center in Dilley to protest ICE, he didn\u2019t expect it to upend his life. By nightfall, he was in jail. Days later, he was out of a job.<\/p>\n
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Pope, 25, originally from Kyle, spent his middle school years in Iowa, earned a bachelor’s degree in history from\u00a0Saint Louis University in 2024 and moved back to Texas to help care for his grandmother, who lives in Comal County.<\/p>\n
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He worked as a substitute teacher for\u00a0Comal Independent School District and was thinking about pursuing a teaching certification. On the side, he was active in politics, volunteering as communications chair for the Comal County Democratic Party and helping to launch a Young Democrats chapter.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 28, Pope stood outside the South Texas Family Residential Center, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention\u00a0facility\u00a0in Dilley, 70 miles southwest of San Antonio. He and other demonstrators were there to demand the release of 5-year-old Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos<\/a> and his father, Ecuadorian nationals who were seeking asylum in the U.S.<\/p>\n Federal agents had arrested the two in a Minneapolis suburb where they lived and transferred them to South Texas. A photo of Liam wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack as he was taken into custody drew national attention to the case.<\/p>\n The Jan. 28 protest unfolded amid renewed national debate over immigration enforcement and family detention. Inside the\u00a0Dilley center, U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett met with Liam and his father. Outside, what had been a tense but orderly crowd of protesters began to dissipate. By mid-afternoon, fewer than 50 remained.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Conflicting accounts<\/p>\n Shortly after 2:20 p.m., state troopers stepped off a yellow school bus in riot gear.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement later that day that troopers responded at the request of the city of Dilley. They issued dispersal orders and fired pepper-ball munitions after protesters breached a barrier and spat on officers, DPS said.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas is a law-and-order state,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n