A school in California whose officials were caught endorsing the “ICE is KKK” political agenda, then punishing a “We (Heart) ICE” comment, have decided to backtrack after being informed they are not allowed to decide which opinions students are allowed to express.
It was the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression that intervene when officials at Torrey Pines High School in California imposed a punishment of suspension for one view, while promoting the opposite.
It happened when hundreds of students at the school staged a protest opposing the nation’s agenda to enforce its border and immigration laws.
They didn’t like that.
So their held a protest, allowed by the school, and promoted posters stating “If You’re an I.C.E. Agent Ya Mom’s a Hoe!!” and “ICE is KKK spelled differently” and others that went beyond the limits of civilized language into offensive obscenities.
“Yet, two weeks later, the school suspended a student for posting pro-ICE flyers reading ‘We ❤️ I.C.E. – Real Americans,’” the organization confirmed.
School officials insisted the flyers, which caused no disruption at the school and were displayed in a common area where other students have posted political material, really were “harassment” and “intimidation,” the organization revealed.
“School administrators can’t pick and choose which opinions students are allowed to express,” said FIRE lawyer Conor Fitzpatrick. “Voicing an opinion which makes others upset is not ‘harassment’ or ‘intimidation,’ it is American democracy in action.”
The school decided to erase the record of the suspension.
“We’re pleased the school has erased the suspension and will be watching closely to ensure the school respects its students’ First Amendment rights,” said Fitzpatrick. “The law is clear: Public schools must allow students to peacefully express their political opinions.”
A report at the Gateway Pundit cited “the violent and dangerous anti-ICE protests at schools across the country.”
It explained, “At Chloe Day School, a ‘progressive’ public preschool in New York City, teachers led an anti-ICE protest and held anti-Trump signs in the classroom. At Lake Region High School in Florida, one student was nearly hit by a car. A mother was brutally assaulted by a mob of high school students during an anti-ICE protest at Issaquah High School in Washington state.”
Further, “Real America’s Voice reporter Brian Glenn shared video of a mob of Hays Consolidated School District students in the Austin, Texas, suburb of Kyle, savagely beating a man during an anti-ICE class walkout protest on campus. At Fremont High School in Nebraska, a student was struck by a red SUV during a student-led anti-ICE protest. The girl’s mother pointed the finger squarely at the school, accusing administrators of failing to protect students and even allowing protest materials to be made in class.”
And Fox News said the student, a junior at the San Diego school, explained he posted the flyers because he wanted to express support for ICE and offer a counterpoint to anti-ICE sentiment on campus.
“I believe in ICE’s mission and I think we should enforce our immigration laws,” he told Fox News Digital. “I also wanted to provide an opposing view to the anti-ICE opinions that the majority of students, teachers, and administrators at Torrey Pines seem to have and often share. I wanted to show students that the issue isn’t one-sided and that their opinions are common and matter, too.”
He reported school officials ordered him to an assistant principal’s office and wildly claimed his flyers were “unacceptable,” “fighting words,” “incendiary” and “dehumanizing.”
He said the school’s viewpoint discrimination offended him.
“It made me feel like the school wants to punish me and silence me just because administrators think my views are wrong,” he said in the Fox report. “I’m glad the other students were allowed to share their anti-ICE views, but I have every [bit as] much right as they do to share my own. It felt especially unfair because some of their signs used swear words and other epithets while mine was very tame.”
School officials claimed in the report that they don’t punish students for their viewpoints.
They claimed their actions were in pursuit of a “safe, orderly, and respectful learning environment.”
