A high school basketball game in Missouri became the latest example of Trump administration policies seeping into American life as student athletes with Latino-sounding last names were reportedly taunted with threats lobbed from an opposing team's student section that they would “call ICE."
Now, officials with the Springfield Public Schools have launched an investigation into the incident, which emerged after multiple witnesses came forward following a Feb. 25 game, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
Witnesses told school officials that students playing against Joplin High School’s basketball team with surnames that appeared to be Latino were taunted with chants that they would “call ICE on them at the end of the game” – an apparent reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the report said.
The situation is being taken “very seriously," a district spokesperson told the publication.
"SPS is aware that our Parkview representatives experienced unacceptable behavior that made students feel targeted and unwelcome during a basketball game this week," Stephen Hall, chief communication officer for the Springfield Public Schools, said.
The district added that it does "not condone any type of inappropriate or unsportsmanlike behavior" by students or student athletes.
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But some parents are still speaking out.
"While spirited competition and school pride are natural elements of high school sports, the behavior displayed by members of the Joplin student section and the lack of intervention by school administration crossed the line into unacceptable and racist conduct," three parents from Parkview High School, who played Joplin, wrote in an email to school officials.
"Specifically, multiple witnesses reported that members of the Joplin student section taunted Parkview players with Latino-sounding names or appearances, chanting that they would 'call ICE on them at the end of the game.' This type of remark is not just inappropriate — it is racially charged, xenophobic, and entirely unacceptable in any school setting,” the parents added.
The news comes as President Donald Trump has begun to deliver on his long-promised mass deportations and large-scale immigration raids, a cornerstone of his political agenda.
It also follows reports that an 11-year-old Texas girl died by suicide after being bullied by her middle school classmates who repeatedly threatened to call ICE authorities to have her family deported.