Students across Florida staged walkouts Thursday protesting immigration enforcement.
But what happened at one high school made jaws drop.
And one Florida school board chair just exposed the ugly truth behind student ICE walkouts.
Mariner High School Descends Into Mayhem
Students at Mariner High School in Cape Coral turned what was supposed to be a peaceful protest into an all-out exodus from campus Thursday.
Dozens of students didn't just walk out of class to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They hopped fences, pushed past security guards, and fled school property entirely.
Witnesses reported students doing burnouts in the parking lot and speeding off campus.
"They were pushing past all the security guards and stuff," freshman Delilah Rivera told reporters. "People were getting in cars and leaving."
Parents like Shalya Garced watched from across the street as students scaled fences to reach Chiquita Boulevard.
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"As a parent myself, I would be uncomfortable that a protest would be happening on school grounds during a school day," Garced said. "I don't find it appropriate."
Students Echo Radical Leftist Talking Points
The students who spoke to the media repeated the same tired arguments pushed by open borders advocates for years.
"I feel upset that ICE has to use, like, really brutal force on anybody," Mariner sophomore Jonathan Cervantes said. "We're not animals, we're for peace. We just want to be here."
Freshman Delilah Rivera went even further with her comments.
"They're killing people who aren't even illegal," Rivera claimed. "It's stolen land, so nobody could be illegal."
That "stolen land" argument comes straight from the radical Left's playbook.
Students at nearby Ida S. Baker High School filled hallways and took their protest onto the football field.
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The Lee County School District warned that students who violated the Code of Conduct would face consequences.
"While we recognize their constitutional rights to free expression, our schools exist for one primary purpose: education," district spokesperson Rob Spicker said. "Behaviors that interfere with instruction or the safety of others will not be tolerated."
One student told reporters off-camera they planned to walk out again Friday.
Brevard County School Board Chair Blows The Lid Off The Scam
The chaos at Mariner High wasn't an isolated incident.
Similar walkouts were planned at multiple Florida schools.
But Brevard County School Board Chair Matt Susin discovered something that changed everything.
Susin launched an investigation after social media posts promoted walkouts at three Brevard high schools using official school logos.
What he found shocked him.
"We interviewed the students that were a part of it, and none of them had agreed that this was something that they had done," Susin told Florida's Voice Radio. "What they did was they used our school logos to make our community look like we were a part of it."
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The investigation revealed outside organizations created the fake social media campaigns.
These groups fraudulently used school district logos and claimed teacher approval that never existed.
Susin said the district is now looking into potential fraud charges against these third parties for misappropriating school intellectual property.
The school board chair also revealed he received a threatening voicemail after warning students about walkout consequences.
"We've actually been able to reverse and investigate that number, and we found that it came from an IP address up in Long Beach, Georgia," Susin said.
The threatening caller used a local 407 area code to disguise their location.
This fits the pattern of outside agitators coordinating to disrupt Florida schools.
Florida Fights Back Against Organized Disruption
Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent guidance to all school districts about handling the walkouts.
"The Florida Department of Education recently received correspondence from members of the Florida legislature regarding reports of organized student protest activity occurring during the school day," Kamoutsas said.
The commissioner made clear that while students have First Amendment rights, adults cannot organize protests during school hours.
"Districts have a responsibility to ensure that any protest activity does not interrupt instructional time, school operations and campus safety," Kamoutsas said.
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He specifically warned that "adults may not encourage, promote, organize or otherwise facilitate student participation in protests during the school day."
Multiple Florida districts took action to protect instructional time.
Lake County warned students who participated in a Wednesday walkout at Leesburg High School could face suspension.
Brevard County told families that students who left campus without written parental permission would face disciplinary consequences ranging from in-school suspension to five days out-of-school suspension.
Susin called on the Florida Legislature to create new laws protecting schools from organizations that "hijack" school logos for political agendas.
Of course, these aren't grassroots student protests.
The reality is that outside agitators are hijacking school logos, faking teacher endorsements,
Sources:
- Michelle Vecerina, "Brevard School Board chair reveals 'fraudulent' third-party involvement in planned student walkouts," Florida's Voice, February 5, 2026.
- Michelle Vecerina, "Mariner High School ICE walk out turns 'chaotic' as students flee campus; Lee County district responds," Florida's Voice, February 5, 2026.
- Anastasios Kamoutsas, Florida Department of Education guidance letter, February 3, 2026.
- Kendall Brandt and Jaylen Baron, "Students walk out of Cape Coral high schools in protest against ICE," WFTX, February 5, 2026.
