Incident details
- Date of incident
- February 12, 2026
- Equipment damaged
- Actor
- Private individual
Equipment Damage
A student-led anti-deportation protest in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 16, 2026. Two high school students were photographing a similar protest for their yearbook in Mansfield, Texas, four days earlier when the school’s principal confiscated their equipment.
Protest photos taken by two high school yearbook reporters in Mansfield, Texas, were deleted by school administrators on Feb. 12, 2026.
That day, about 60 students from Mansfield High School, located in a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, walked out to protest the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the Arlington Report.
The walkout was part of a wave of such demonstrations across schools in the United States following the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, according to media reports.
Students Soriyah Jennane and Lacey Hughlett were there to take pictures for the yearbook when Principal Kourtney Gates approached them and asked them to hand over their cameras, according to the Student Press Law Center.
The students told the SPLC that they weren’t expecting the confrontation.
“I kind of laughed a little bit when she was starting, because I was like, ‘Is she joking? I don’t understand,’” Jennane said.
When they realized Gates was serious, the students attempted to remove the memory cards from the cameras. The students confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker through SPLC Staff Attorney Jonathan Gaston-Falk that while the cameras were school property, the memory cards belonged to them.
However, the principal ordered them to hand those over as well.
“We wanted to keep the pictures, and she’s like, ‘Nah, not any of that crap, don’t do any of that, give me the film right now,’” Hughlett told the SPLC.
When Hughlett and Jennane’s equipment was returned to them, they realized their pictures had been deleted.
After contacting the SPLC for legal help, a Texas-based pro bono attorney sent a June 2 letter to the school requesting an apology, but the students never heard back.
The students told the Tracker through Gaston-Falk, “Mrs. Gates did respond to our email, but not with the apology we requested or any acknowledgment that her actions were wrong. She never responded to the letter that was sent by the lawyer, at least not to our knowledge.”
Gates did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
