A Virginia high school has already suspended more than 300 students who left campus during a recent anti–United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest.
Woodbridge High School, roughly 23 miles south of Washington, D.C., announced in a Feb. 13 letter to parents that 303 students received three-day suspensions. The story gained traction after a 7News (Va.) report Wednesday evening.
Principal Dr. Heather Abney reiterated that Prince William County Public Schools did not sponsor the protest. Administrators confirmed that the students were punished in accordance with district policies, which prohibit students from leaving campus without an excused absence. Although some students participated in the protest, others reportedly went home or walked more than two miles to a nearby shopping center.
Administrators claim that some students who returned to campus created a disturbance. Further details on what that disturbance was, as well as who was involved, were not known at publication.
At Woodbridge High School in Virginia, 303 students were given three-day suspensions after a student-led walkout against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spilled off campus and disrupted the area during school hours. pic.twitter.com/9p4LS5OXx2
— Wire Falls (@wirefalls) February 20, 2026
Additionally, PWCS told 7News that staff members do not participate in walkouts and cannot physically prevent students from leaving. However, employees are allowed to attend a protest if they are supervising students.
PWCS wrote in a second letter that other schools had protests planned for Thursday and Friday. It was unknown whether Woodbridge High School intended to hold another walkout despite the recent punishments.
“While school staff will monitor students participating in a walkout while on school property to ensure student safety, any student leaving school grounds without permission will not be supervised by PWCS staff and will face disciplinary consequences, including out of school suspension,” the district said.
Woodbridge High School’s decision to suspend more than 300 students is one of the more notable protest-related punishments handed down by any school. Students across the country have spent recent weeks organizing and participating in walkouts amid ongoing immigration operations, including Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. However, there have been few reports of schools disciplining students for participating in those protests.
JUST IN: 303 students at Woodbridge High School (@PWCSNews) have been SUSPENDED for three days after leaving school to protest against ICE.
The district issued a warning to other schools that students may also face suspension if they leave class without permission. pic.twitter.com/tSjDILpoeM
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 19, 2026
White House officials said earlier this month that ICE has arrested at least 4,000 people in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began in December. Federal officials have since begun leaving Minnesota.
However, Woodbridge is not the only school dealing with ramifications related to an anti-ICE protest. A Florida minor was struck by a car this week and taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries while participating in a protest near a high school.
Although a Pennsylvania school intended to have a student-led walkout Friday, administrators announced shortly before classes began that the protest was canceled. The school did not provide specific reasoning, but it is worth noting that Libs of TikTok flagged the planned protest in an X post Thursday afternoon.
