Students walkout over ICE activity

TYLER – An estimated 1,000 students from Tyler High School and Legacy High School walked out of classes on Tuesday afternoon in protest of recent ICE activity. According to our news partner KETK, the protest remained peaceful and students who participated created signs and posters urging local law enforcement to end their partnership with ICE’s 287(g) program, which Smith County commissioners approved in February 2025.

Students who organized the protest stated that they would no longer sit idly and watch ICE terrorize communities nationwide. Tyler High English Teacher Stacy Brazill approved her students’ decisions to participate in the protest due to the fear and anxiety the presence of ICE in East Texas has created in their families.

” I am really proud of them for trying to make adults listen to their voices,” Brazill said.”Many of my students have very personal experiences with family members being deported and it makes them feel less human.”

Prior to the protest, parents of students who planned to participate in the walkout were asked to sign them out of school to help them avoid any disciplinary action.

After students walked out, administrators at Tyler High closed the campus gate, preventing them from returning to school for the remainder of the day. It is uncertain at this time whether students who participated in the protest will receive disciplinary action.

KETK News reached out to Tyler ISD for a statement on the walkout, but has not received a response.