U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained at least five Austin Independent School District employees, according to union leaders, leaving principals hustling for substitutes and coworkers piecing together what happened. The employees reportedly include a classroom teacher, a food service worker, a transportation driver, and two custodians. District officials say they still have limited information about when and where some of the arrests took place.
Education Austin Vice President Trasell Underwood confirmed the total and told Spectrum News the union initially believed only three workers had been detained before learning at an October meeting that the number was actually five. "We are unaware who most of the detained employees are," Underwood said, adding that the union is pressing the district to protect the workers' pay and positions while their immigration cases move through federal court.
School leaders notifying families
In September, parents at Hart Elementary received a letter from Principal Larry Perez explaining that a fifth-grade teacher had been detained and stressing that the incident did not occur on or near the campus. The letter, reviewed by FOX 7 Austin, said the school had assigned a long-term substitute and a fifth-grade core content interventionist to the classroom in an effort to keep things steady for students.
Teacher detained after routine check-in
That teacher, Roberto Lopez Falcon, is a fifth-grade English-learner instructor at Hart Elementary who was arrested during a Sept. 3 check-in appointment in San Antonio and has since been held at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center, according to the Austin American-Statesman. ICE told the paper he had been allowed to remain in the United States on conditional status after entering without inspection in 2022 and was taken into custody while his immigration case proceeds.
Other staff appear in ICE records
Records on ICE's detainee locator show individuals held at the Karnes and Laredo facilities, and local reporters used that tool to identify a person linked to McCallum High School at the Laredo site. A bilingual instructional coach at Perez Elementary told reporters that a lunchroom worker from that campus remains in custody, as detailed by Spectrum News.
District response and staffing pressure
Austin ISD says it has continued paying employees who are on leave under its current policy while campuses search for long-term substitutes, but Superintendent Matias Segura told the Austin American-Statesman that district leaders have received little direct communication from ICE about the detentions. The paper reports that Segura expects the school board to consider a revised leave and pay policy by the end of the year to address situations involving prolonged detention.
Legal and classroom context
Immigration arrests tied to routine check-ins and other off-campus encounters have unsettled educators across Texas, and school districts have been updating their protocols to verify law-enforcement paperwork and limit disruptions inside classrooms. Reporting by KUT outlines Austin ISD's guidance for staff when officers seek access to campuses, and legal advocates say these cases highlight the tension between federal enforcement actions and schools' obligations to keep serving students.
Education Austin says it will keep pushing the district for transparency and job protections as families and colleagues organize support for the detained workers. Officials on all sides expect more developments as federal immigration proceedings continue, and district leaders say campuses will notify families if new information affects classrooms or day-to-day operations.
