“Safety is a top priority at SAISD schools, and we want to keep families informed of situations as soon as we are able,” Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary Principal Gloria Martinez said in an email to parents. Credit: Google Screen Shots

San Antonio ISD on Monday told parents it’s investigating allegations that a staffer at one of its elementary schools made a social media comment encouraging federal immigration officials to conduct raids in the Alamo City.

In an email sent to parents, Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary Principal Gloria Martinez said that the district opened its investigation after an employee at the school made posts “generating questions and concerns from our families.”

“Safety is a top priority at SAISD schools, and we want to keep families informed of situations as soon as we are able,” the email said.

One of those alleged remarks, posted in response to a TikTok video, was reported to SAISD officials Friday, according to the San Antonio Report.

The TikTok video in question included a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s logo and the song “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC playing in the background.

“Track the EBT cards, raid every school,”  read the caption by @seenoevil1922, who posted the clip. “Set up shop in ER’s, audit all housing.”

“Come to San Antonio TX please,” wrote one commentator, whom the San Antonio Report didn’t name but identified as a bilingual Pre-K teacher at Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary. The commenter’s account has since been deleted, according to the story.

The district’s investigation into the online comment follows days behind a similar incident at Fort Worth Independent School District. In that case, a substitute teacher reportedly tweeted out an invite for ICE to raid school’s in that city’s predominantly Hispanic North Side.

“I have many students who don’t even speak English, and they are in 10th-11th grade,” said the tweet, which was shared as a screenshot by CBS News. “They have to communicate with me through their iPhone translator. The [US Dept. of Education] should totally overhaul our school system in Texas too.”

San Antonio’s ICE field office confirmed to the Texas Tribune on Sunday that its agents, in cooperation with other federal agencies, had conducted “enhanced targeted operations” in the Alamo City over the weekend.

However, there have so far been no reports of ICE agents conducting operations at San Antonio public schools.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed

Related Stories

This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...