Adeleah Cardenas was in fifth grade when she first led a group of fellow students from her elementary school to a nearby library to protest immigration policies.
Now a senior at Akins High School, Cardenas has helped ignite a student-led movement against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that has rippled across Central Texas. What began as an idea from a friend in late January quickly grew into coordinated walkouts at campuses across Austin ISD and beyond. As protests multiplied, Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Austin ISD leaders of encouraging them and called for investigations. Undeterred, students have pressed on in their activism as Austin ISD leaders — and students — fight back against the state’s accusations.
Cardenas has been civically active for as long as she can remember and was excited to use her experience to encourage others to make their voices heard. Recognizing the seriousness of organizing a walkout, she worked with fellow students to formulate a clear path, inform students about the purpose and enforce strict rules.
“From there we just did what high schoolers do best, and put it on social media,” Cardenas said. “As much as people think we don’t have a voice, we have the biggest voice. We are the next generation that are here to make a change.”
For safety, Cardenas notified school administrators, who she said did not endorse or support the plan but could not stop it either. Administrators focused on keeping students safe, she said, as word of the protest spread like wildfire.
As the idea spread, students from other campuses across Central Texas contacted her group for guidance on how to organize their own walkouts. Many shared the same fears, she said: racial profiling, separation from family members and anxiety about their safety in public.
“The government wouldn’t try to shut us up if we didn’t have the power to do something,” Cardenas said. The governor “can defund our education all he wants but we are not stupid, we see what’s happening and we know better. We know right from wrong.”
State pressure follows student protests
Walkouts began Jan. 30 at multiple Central Texas schools, including 14 AISD campuses. The district did not endorse them, Superintendent Matias Segura wrote in a letter to parents. He said students who missed class would receive unexcused absences. Despite that, state leaders sought records and communications to determine whether educators encouraged the protests.
In a letter responding to the state’s claims, Austin ISD General Counsel Kenneth Walker said the assertion that AISD had assisted students with their demonstrations is “misplaced.” He wrote that the district cannot physically prevent students from leaving campus and instead informed them of the consequences under state truancy laws.
Walker said district staff and police were present only to ensure student safety and questioned why Austin ISD was singled out when students in other districts also participated.
In a video message posted to the district’s Instagram page Feb. 11, Austin ISD principals expressed pride in students finding their voices but called the protests disruptive to the school day and asked them to remain in their classrooms.
Students find purpose in protest
Jayden Lacaille, a senior at Akins High School, is a longtime friend of Cardenas and was inspired by her friend’s ability to mobilize people in support of a cause their community cared so deeply about.
“When I got there, I wanted to burst out in tears,” Lacaille said. “We are so young, we think that our voice is not going to really make a change. But, seeing how all of us were gathered there that day made me feel really hopeful after a period of being really scared for my family and my friends.”
She added that kids who would never sit together at lunch joined together for a cause they collectively recognized was bigger than them and could not stay silent about.
Lacaille said she hopes to continue her activism and now plans to pursue work in immigration advocacy. Having grown up with a parent who was an immigrant and became a naturalized citizen, she says she is acutely aware of the treatment toward immigrants. Lacaille said she recalls seeing her mother come home crying once because a man had overheard her speaking on the phone in Spanish and yelled at her to speak in English.
“There are people who hate us just because of where we came from, so it is hard taking the first step to put yourself out there,” said Lacaille. “But it is a step I am willing to take, because I saw how people came together.”
Organizing across district lines
Across the city, Natalie Mathews, a senior at Pflugerville ISD’s Hendrickson High School, learned about the Austin ISD protest and volunteered to help a group organizing a walkout in her own district. She contacted city council members, local police and the superintendent about student safety, brought visors and snacks for fellow protestors, and routed the protest to the justice center next to the police department. Students from different campuses coordinated routes, shared materials and divided up tasks.
She said her school district didn’t endorse the protests.
Witnessing the Black Lives Matter movement just a handful of years ago, Natalie said her generation learned to recognize injustice early and saw how communities banded together in response. She said students now reject claims they are being indoctrinated and see themselves as future voters responding to real fears.
“I think it is a double-edged sword because you don’t say it is indoctrination when you put up laws that the ten commandments need to be in school,” Natalie said.
Teachers are already stressed, overworked and underpaid, she said, and blaming educators ignores what students are pointing out as injustice. If the government wants to make schools safer, she questions why gun legislation has not been passed in the wake of school shootings.
“If they cared about students, they would be securing our schools from threats,” Natalie said. “They would be ensuring that student mental health is a priority and they would be paying teachers more.”
