Students at a Houston high school walked out after an undocumented peer was detained by federal immigration officials. (Photo: United We Dream Houston/Twitter)
Feb 15, 2018
More than 300 students from Stephen F. Austin High School in Houston, Texas walked out during their lunch break on Wednesday to protest the detention of an undocumented peer by federal immigration authorities.
Dennis Rivera-Sarmiento, a 19-year-old from Honduras, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after getting into a fight at the school with another student, who immigrant rights advocates say was bullying him for being undocumented.
\u201cStudents at Austin HS walk out in protest of student who was detained by ICE #FreeDennis @abc13houston\u201d— Mayra Moreno ABC13 (@Mayra Moreno ABC13) 1518632996
Andrea Gonzalez, a 15-year-old sophomore who helped organize the protest, told The Houston Chronicle that his detention and pending deportation has made other students afraid to attend school.
"We don't want anything like this to happen to anyone else," Gonzalez said. "Today it could be Dennis, tomorrow it could be us."
In response to the protest, the Houston Independent School Disctrict (HISD) said in a statement that it "has not used district resources to assist in deportation actions and we do not report students to ICE," emphasizing "the district's commitment to educating every student regardless of their immigration status."
"School police contacted the Harris County District Attorney's Office," and Rivera-Sarmiento was charged with a misdemeanor for the fight, according to The Chronicle. "He was arrested and transferred to the Harris County Jail, where deputies ran his fingerprints."
His fingerprints were run through federal databases as part of a highly contentious national program called Secure Communities, which immigrant rights advocates have decried as "a policy that criminalizes immigrants, erodes our civil rights, and destroys community safety." After his immigration status was confirmed, the Chronicle reports, federal officials "requested the sheriff's office hold him until they could pick him up" from the facility, rather than releasing him on bond.
"Dennis was eligible for, and paid, a $2,000 bond, but instead of being released to his family, the sheriff's department handed him over to ICE," according to the immigrant youth network United We Dream (UWD), which has launched a #FreeDennis petition that has garnered more than 9,000 signatures. "The outrageous reality is that too many systems have failed Dennis and many other immigrant youth."
\u201c19-year-old Dennis was detained after bullies made fun of him for being undocumented!\n\nSign to demand ICE to release Dennis from detention immediately and let him go back to school.\n\nhttps://t.co/JOxvLHXXvt\n\n#FreeDennis #Not1More\u201d— United We Dream (@United We Dream) 1518281312
"HISD failed Dennis by letting police officers decide that incarceration is the solution to bullying," UWD said. "The District Attorney's office failed Dennis by using their discretion to charge and prosecute Dennis, and to file a second case against him for forfeiting his bond, which was of no fault of his own because he went into ICE custody. The sheriff's department failed Dennis by obtaining information from him that was shared with ICE and then allowed ICE to arrest him from the jail."
After making local headlines, the demands that federal authorities release Rivera-Sarmiento gained support from higher profile activists, including actress Alyssa Milano, who signed the petition and tweeted with the hashtag #FreeDennis.
\u201cI just took action to demand ICE to #FreeDennis! Join me, Dennis should be in school not in detention: https://t.co/5JOrvzoxx5 https://t.co/IKQjRbl0V5\u201d— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa Milano) 1518324148
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
More than 300 students from Stephen F. Austin High School in Houston, Texas walked out during their lunch break on Wednesday to protest the detention of an undocumented peer by federal immigration authorities.
Dennis Rivera-Sarmiento, a 19-year-old from Honduras, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after getting into a fight at the school with another student, who immigrant rights advocates say was bullying him for being undocumented.
\u201cStudents at Austin HS walk out in protest of student who was detained by ICE #FreeDennis @abc13houston\u201d— Mayra Moreno ABC13 (@Mayra Moreno ABC13) 1518632996
Andrea Gonzalez, a 15-year-old sophomore who helped organize the protest, told The Houston Chronicle that his detention and pending deportation has made other students afraid to attend school.
"We don't want anything like this to happen to anyone else," Gonzalez said. "Today it could be Dennis, tomorrow it could be us."
In response to the protest, the Houston Independent School Disctrict (HISD) said in a statement that it "has not used district resources to assist in deportation actions and we do not report students to ICE," emphasizing "the district's commitment to educating every student regardless of their immigration status."
"School police contacted the Harris County District Attorney's Office," and Rivera-Sarmiento was charged with a misdemeanor for the fight, according to The Chronicle. "He was arrested and transferred to the Harris County Jail, where deputies ran his fingerprints."
His fingerprints were run through federal databases as part of a highly contentious national program called Secure Communities, which immigrant rights advocates have decried as "a policy that criminalizes immigrants, erodes our civil rights, and destroys community safety." After his immigration status was confirmed, the Chronicle reports, federal officials "requested the sheriff's office hold him until they could pick him up" from the facility, rather than releasing him on bond.
"Dennis was eligible for, and paid, a $2,000 bond, but instead of being released to his family, the sheriff's department handed him over to ICE," according to the immigrant youth network United We Dream (UWD), which has launched a #FreeDennis petition that has garnered more than 9,000 signatures. "The outrageous reality is that too many systems have failed Dennis and many other immigrant youth."
\u201c19-year-old Dennis was detained after bullies made fun of him for being undocumented!\n\nSign to demand ICE to release Dennis from detention immediately and let him go back to school.\n\nhttps://t.co/JOxvLHXXvt\n\n#FreeDennis #Not1More\u201d— United We Dream (@United We Dream) 1518281312
"HISD failed Dennis by letting police officers decide that incarceration is the solution to bullying," UWD said. "The District Attorney's office failed Dennis by using their discretion to charge and prosecute Dennis, and to file a second case against him for forfeiting his bond, which was of no fault of his own because he went into ICE custody. The sheriff's department failed Dennis by obtaining information from him that was shared with ICE and then allowed ICE to arrest him from the jail."
After making local headlines, the demands that federal authorities release Rivera-Sarmiento gained support from higher profile activists, including actress Alyssa Milano, who signed the petition and tweeted with the hashtag #FreeDennis.
\u201cI just took action to demand ICE to #FreeDennis! Join me, Dennis should be in school not in detention: https://t.co/5JOrvzoxx5 https://t.co/IKQjRbl0V5\u201d— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa Milano) 1518324148
More than 300 students from Stephen F. Austin High School in Houston, Texas walked out during their lunch break on Wednesday to protest the detention of an undocumented peer by federal immigration authorities.
Dennis Rivera-Sarmiento, a 19-year-old from Honduras, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after getting into a fight at the school with another student, who immigrant rights advocates say was bullying him for being undocumented.
\u201cStudents at Austin HS walk out in protest of student who was detained by ICE #FreeDennis @abc13houston\u201d— Mayra Moreno ABC13 (@Mayra Moreno ABC13) 1518632996
Andrea Gonzalez, a 15-year-old sophomore who helped organize the protest, told The Houston Chronicle that his detention and pending deportation has made other students afraid to attend school.
"We don't want anything like this to happen to anyone else," Gonzalez said. "Today it could be Dennis, tomorrow it could be us."
In response to the protest, the Houston Independent School Disctrict (HISD) said in a statement that it "has not used district resources to assist in deportation actions and we do not report students to ICE," emphasizing "the district's commitment to educating every student regardless of their immigration status."
"School police contacted the Harris County District Attorney's Office," and Rivera-Sarmiento was charged with a misdemeanor for the fight, according to The Chronicle. "He was arrested and transferred to the Harris County Jail, where deputies ran his fingerprints."
His fingerprints were run through federal databases as part of a highly contentious national program called Secure Communities, which immigrant rights advocates have decried as "a policy that criminalizes immigrants, erodes our civil rights, and destroys community safety." After his immigration status was confirmed, the Chronicle reports, federal officials "requested the sheriff's office hold him until they could pick him up" from the facility, rather than releasing him on bond.
"Dennis was eligible for, and paid, a $2,000 bond, but instead of being released to his family, the sheriff's department handed him over to ICE," according to the immigrant youth network United We Dream (UWD), which has launched a #FreeDennis petition that has garnered more than 9,000 signatures. "The outrageous reality is that too many systems have failed Dennis and many other immigrant youth."
\u201c19-year-old Dennis was detained after bullies made fun of him for being undocumented!\n\nSign to demand ICE to release Dennis from detention immediately and let him go back to school.\n\nhttps://t.co/JOxvLHXXvt\n\n#FreeDennis #Not1More\u201d— United We Dream (@United We Dream) 1518281312
"HISD failed Dennis by letting police officers decide that incarceration is the solution to bullying," UWD said. "The District Attorney's office failed Dennis by using their discretion to charge and prosecute Dennis, and to file a second case against him for forfeiting his bond, which was of no fault of his own because he went into ICE custody. The sheriff's department failed Dennis by obtaining information from him that was shared with ICE and then allowed ICE to arrest him from the jail."
After making local headlines, the demands that federal authorities release Rivera-Sarmiento gained support from higher profile activists, including actress Alyssa Milano, who signed the petition and tweeted with the hashtag #FreeDennis.
\u201cI just took action to demand ICE to #FreeDennis! Join me, Dennis should be in school not in detention: https://t.co/5JOrvzoxx5 https://t.co/IKQjRbl0V5\u201d— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa Milano) 1518324148
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.