Bianca Seward/Houston Public Media
More than 100 students rallied Tuesday exterior of Houston ISD’s Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center calling for the discharge of their classmate, 18-year-old Mauro Henriquez, from detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Henriquez’s household says regardless of having an asylum declare, he and his father had been detained on Dec. 16 and have been held at ICE’s Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe for 50 days. They say neither Henriquez nor his father have felony information and had been complying with required court docket check-ins and authorized immigration processes.
Sam Houston scholar Luis Barrios says Henriquez, the captain of the school’s soccer workforce, has a proper to be a scholar there.
“He’s trying to do something with his life and I say he deserves that opportunity,” Barrios stated.
In a press release to Houston Public Media, an ICE spokesperson confirmed the detention of Henriquez and his father. The company says each have acquired “full due process under the law and been ordered deported.”
The spokesperson added that Henriquez’s father, Mauro Henriquez-Alfaro, was beforehand ordered eliminated and deported to Honduras in July 2008 for illegally getting into the U.S.
“The media and the public need to understand that employment authorization does NOT confer any type of legal status in the United States,” the ICE spokesperson additionally wrote in an electronic mail. “It is a permission to work, not a green card or visa, and does not grant lawful status or shield illegal aliens from immigration enforcement actions.”
Tuesday afternoon’s rally was the newest within the Houston space as students throughout Texas are internet hosting their very own demonstrations protesting ICE. On Tuesday morning, students at Elkins High School in Missouri City walked out of sophistication to talk up towards ICE, and final week Conroe High School students joined nationwide protests against the federal company, which has ramped up its enforcement of immigration legal guidelines underneath President Donald Trump.
RELATED: Hundreds gather in Galveston for anti-ICE protest
The protests have adopted the capturing deaths of two U.S. residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by ICE brokers in Minnesota. And they arrive as a few of Texas’ high elected officers, together with the Texas Education Agency, attempt to crack down on scholar demonstrations.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has traditionally expressed help for free speech, stated throughout a Wednesday occasion in Houston that the “reality of the law of free speech is more complex.”
“You don’t have free speech to say and act any way you want to, anywhere you want to, anytime you want to,” Abbott stated. “The Supreme Court has been very clear about free speech of students, and that free speech of students does not include leaving the school to go and protest.”
On Friday, Abbott directed Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to research a walkout held in Austin ISD.
“AISD gets taxpayer dollars to teach the subjects required by the state, not to help students skip school to protest,” Abbott posted to X. “Our schools are for educating our children, not political indoctrination.”
Bianca Seward/Houston Public Media
Attorney General Ken Paxton has demanded AISD hand over information relating to insurance policies associated to permitting students to go away campus, excused absence insurance policies, safety protocols and inside communications relating to the state of affairs. Paxton says his workplace will examine using public funds and whether or not any legal guidelines had been violated.
Abbott escalated his calls for penalties for “disruptive walkouts” Tuesday morning.
“Schools and staff who allow this behavior should be treated as co-conspirators and should not be immune for criminal behavior,” Abbott wrote in one other social media post. “We are also looking into stripping the funding of schools that abandon their duty to teach our kids the curriculum required by law. More to come.”
By Tuesday evening, Morath rolled out official guidance outlining severe consequences for students, lecturers and employees who “take part in inappropriate political activism.”
The penalties for students, lecturers and districts for facilitating walkouts embody: lack of attendance-based funding if students will not be correctly marked absent, trainer investigations that might end result within the lack of their license and school system investigations with sanctions that embody a state takeover of the district.
RELATED: After anti-ICE school walkout, Midland ISD police seek to identity organizers
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has managed Houston ISD since June 2023, initiating the takeover after one excessive school acquired a string of failing educational rankings from the company.
Abbott was requested at Wednesday’s occasion in Houston about how the TEA would possibly examine districts and lecturers to search out them culpable of facilitating a scholar walkout. Abbott stated that will be decided by Morath.
The governor added that districts might be discovered liable for accidents at protests.
“I’m telling you, if there’s any student that gets run over because of a protest that was allowed by the high school to take place, I fully expect the school district and the leaders to be held legally responsible for that,” Abbott stated.
Houston ISD didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
“Today, in classrooms across Texas, tomorrow’s leaders are learning the foundational, critical thinking skills and knowledge necessary for lifelong learning, serving as the bedrock for the future success of our state and nation,” the TEA said in its information launch. “It is in this spirit that school systems have been reminded of their duty and obligation to ensure that their students are both safe and that they attend school, with consequences for students for unexcused absences.”
Bianca Seward/Houston Public Media
“He just doesn’t understand why he’s been there for so long”
Henriquez’s soccer coach at Sam Houston, Miguel Gusar, described him as a real chief and nice pal. Gusar says he visited Henriquez two weeks in the past on the ICE processing heart and stated the go to was emotional for them each.
“He looks skinnier,” Gusar stated. “You know, he’s depressed from what I could see. He just doesn’t understand why he’s been there for so long.”
A GoFundMe account has been established to assist cowl authorized prices. On the fundraising web page, Henriquez is described as a “hardworking respectful man.” He is scheduled to graduate this spring, however has missed a month of school because of the detention. The donations will even cowl primary family wants because the household says Henriquez’s father is their main supplier.
Several students who did not know Henriquez personally got here to the rally to name for his launch, whereas additionally protesting ICE operations in Houston and across the nation.
Editor’s be aware: This story was up to date Feb. 4, 2026, to incorporate feedback from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as properly as further feedback from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.