A 45-year-old man has been charged with two counts of assault after getting into a fistfight with a group of Texas teenagers who were protesting Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
On Monday, as the group of high schoolers carried signs and walked out of school in Buda to protest ICE, a man in his truck began arguing with them, in an incident that devolved into a physical brawl, based on video from a bystander.
The video of the altercation shows the man, identified by police as Chad Michael Watts of Kyle, Texas, with his arm raised over a girl on the ground as other teenagers run to pull him off of her. The group of high schoolers tackle and hit Watts as he fights back, before retreating to his truck.
A “difference of opinion on the immigration issue” led to the initial argument, Buda Police officer Matt Schima told CBS Austin.
“The juvenile ended up kicking the adult’s truck. He got out of the truck, and that is when that physical altercation started,” Schima said to CBS Austin.
The students were among hundreds who walked out of Moe and Gene Johnson High School in Buda to protest ICE.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro called for Watts’ arrest in response to a video of the fight on Tuesday afternoon.
“Have the Kyle, TX police arrested this racist white man who attacked Hispanic girls and other high school students who were protesting against ICE?” Castro wrote.
The same day, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra released a statement about the incident, saying the Buda Police Department was working with the District Attorney’s office to investigate the altercation.
“An adult bears a clear responsibility to exercise restraint, especially in the presence of children,” Becerra wrote. “Violence or intimidation directed at a minor — particularly during a lawful, peaceful demonstration — has no place in a constitutional republic.”
A few hours later, Watts was arrested by Buda Police and charged with two counts of assault causing bodily injury, after police determined he was the “primary aggressor” in the altercation.
The walkout to protest ICE is one of many such demonstrations at schools across Texas, which have been met with resistance from officials.
(Two minors were also arrested by police monitoring Monday’s walkout in Kyle, for allegedly assaulting a public servant, resisting arrest, and consumption of alcohol, according to KVUE. However, police said the arrests were unrelated to the protest.)
On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott posted on X about the arrests, discouraging school walkouts and threatening consequences for teachers and schools who allow them to happen.
“Disruptive walkouts allowed by schools lead to just this kind of chaos,” Abbott wrote. “Schools and staff who allow this behavior should be treated as co-conspirators and should not be immune for criminal behavior.”
“We are also looking into stripping the funding of schools that abandon their duty to teach our kids the curriculum required by law,” Abbott continued.
Texas Rep. Erin Zweiner, a Democrat representing Hays County, criticized Abbott for not acknowledging Watts’ altercation with the teenagers from Moe and Gene Johnson High School.
“Instead of calling for justice against the grown man that assaulted a girl, Gov. Abbott is celebrating the arrest of students, calling for the criminal investigation of schools & teachers, & threatening the funding of our school districts,” Zweiner wrote on X.
After an Austin ISD walkout last week to protest ICE, Gov. Abbott said on X he was directing the Commissioner of Education, Mike Morath, to investigate the district.
The Texas Education Agency released new, punitive guidelines on Tuesday for schools regarding walkouts. The guidelines state that students must be marked absent if they walk out, and schools could lose funding due to low attendance. They also say that teachers and schools who facilitate walkouts will be “subject to investigation and sanction,” which could include the revocation of teaching licenses or state-appointed district monitors.
Eric Wright, the superintendent of Hays Consolidated Independent School District where the walkout and altercation occurred, posted a message to the district on Wednesday. Wright told parents to encourage their children to stay in class.
“If you want your children to protest, you must sign them out of school and leave school property,” Wright said in his message. “Students must understand that the ramifications of their actions using schools as their platforms probably won’t mean much to the federal government, but they will mean a great deal to our local community.”