Chad Michael Watts Arrested After Texas Walkout Assault Buda Police charged 45‑year‑old Chad Michael Watts with two counts of assault causing bodily injury on Feb. 4 after a video showed him in a MAGA hat lunging at a teenage protester during a student walkout against ICE policies; a Hays County sheriff’s school resource officer alerted officers at 1:30 p.m., who later located Watts and identified him as the primary aggressor [1]. Local officials issued divergent statements: Mayor Lee Urbanovsky called for patience, Judge Ruben Becerra condemned violence toward minors, Governor Greg Abbott blamed the protesters, and Rep. Erin Zwiener defended students’ constitutional rights [1].

Student Walkouts Escalate Following ICE‑Related Shootings Across Texas, students staged walkouts after the January shootings of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol and Renee Good by ICE agents, incidents the medical examiner classified as homicides and that prompted the DOJ to open a civil‑rights probe and CBP to place two agents on leave [1][2]. The protests have grown into a “no work, no school, no shopping” strike involving thousands nationwide, reflecting heightened opposition to federal immigration enforcement [2].

Bomb Threat Forces Columbia Heights Schools to Shut On Feb. 2, a bomb threat sent to schools in the Columbia Heights neighborhood forced the district to close all schools as a precaution; police found no suspicious packages and the schools planned to resume classes on Tuesday [2]. The incident occurred amid the broader wave of ICE‑related demonstrations and heightened security concerns in schools hosting protest activities [2].

Five‑Year‑Old Detained by ICE Sparks Outcry Among the detained students was five‑year‑old Liam Ramos, photographed in a blue bunny‑ear hat, whose detention and that of his father prompted national outrage and a federal judge’s order for their release from a Texas detention center over the weekend [2]. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests of Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson for involvement in an anti‑immigration protest at a Minnesota church, linking the case to the larger protest movement [2].

Federal Immigration Surge Fuels Nationwide Strikes More than 3,000 federal immigration officers have been deployed in Minnesota for weeks following a surge ordered by President Donald Trump, intensifying local tensions and prompting protests in Minneapolis, Boston, Los Angeles, and other cities [2]. The large‑scale strike on Friday demonstrated coordinated resistance to the immigration surge, with participants refusing work, school, and shopping as a collective statement [2].