The Great Texas Migration
By: Nitzaliah Festinger
Would you sacrifice your comfort to stand for what you believe in? Would you leave your home, your job, your family? When faced with a conflict like this, most people would choose comfort over conduct. Which is understandable considering the risks that come with leaving one’s habitat. Why is this relevant? This is the choice many in Texas have to make right now. With the intensification of ICE, mistreatment of minorities, and overall injustice, most left-wingers are just about done, and ready to say goodbye. One reason people are leaving is due to the senate bill that passed at the beginning of the school year.
Senate Bill 13 came into effect early September 2025, in Texas. The law allows for parents to press charges against school librarians for their child getting a book they (the parent) do not approve of from the library. Librarians can now face jail time for this. This adds a lot more risk to the career, and anxiety. This is also because there aren’t many restrictions around the law. Even if the book was just another student’s that they left in the library, and another kid happened to find it in the library and take it home, parents can still choose to press charges.
Similarly, a professor at Texas A&M University, was fired for discussing gender identity in a Gender Studies class. A student made a recording during this lesson. The teacher was discussing how there can be many different genders people feel, and express themselves as. The student interrupted, stating that what the teacher was saying was illegal to talk about in the class. She referred to Donald Trump’s executive order, highlighting that “according to our President, there are only two genders.”, and then going on to talk about how the school could lose government funding if she taught these topics. The student then refers to the fact that she has been documenting the class, and plans to present it to the president of Texas A&M. The teacher responds calmly stating, “I’m not convinced that your proposal will be effective in stopping me from teaching things that are biologically true.”, and “I do have the legal and ethical authority, professional expertise in this classroom.” After this the student left the class. When she presented her documentation of the class however, the administration actually decided to fire professor Melissa McCoul. She is now suing Texas A&M for violating her first amendment rights.
In other news, the ICE, and immigrant rights situation in Texas has intensified a lot. They are revoking the rights to work for immigrants, as well as TPS, and DACA citizens. Another action they have taken is bringing ICE to airports. Agents are going to be working in TSA, and customs in replacement of absent TSA agents. They plan on detaining people there. This means they can start to take people who are traveling internationally, and detain them. Airport employees express their concern about the installation of this. Unions refer to this development as a “distraction from solutions that protect Americans,”.
While these changes may not seem very drastic, they are definitely significant. Texas is becoming a very dangerous place for immigrants, and TPS or DACA. And now, they’re crossing the line to teachers. By punishing people for their backgrounds, and beliefs we are losing our rights as Americans, and forgetting our values. We’ve seen this happening in other states as well. Especially with the internment camps in Kansas, and Florida, as well as the new Kansas Law against trans people. In history, we’ve witnessed what happens when governments start restricting, detaining, and killing people based on their ideologies. These actions are usually fueled by discrimination and hate, and don’t tend to lead to anything good. Texas, Florida, and Kansas are all red states. Seeing as issues such as these are getting progressively more intense in areas of the same political party, they will probably continue to spread this way. And if this is true, once all the red states have joined this movement, the purple states will most likely follow behind, meaning us here in Colorado. With the increase of ICE, we could lose nearly 40% of our student body. If this were to happen the school would have to lay off a lot more teachers, since there would be no work, or funding for them. It’s a domino effect, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to end positively.
Sources:
https://tea.texas.gov/about-tea/news-and-multimedia/correspondence/taa-letters/senate-bill-13-requirements-related-to-school-library-materials
https://guide.denveredexplorer.org/schools/3378
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy3zel0r3go
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