Pro-Trump Student Put on Psychiatric Hold After ICE Flyer, Lawsuit Alleges
Torrey Pines High School is facing a lawsuit that raises new questions about whether students who hold pro-Trump views receive equal treatment on campus. According to Daily Wire, the complaint, filed on behalf of two students identified as A.F. and M.F., alleges that school officials responded harshly after the pair attended a Feb. 6 protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and instead expressed support for President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
According to the outlet, “M.F. carried a printout of the letters ‘LGBT’ — each letter paired with an image: the Statue of Liberty for ‘L,’ a rifle for ‘G,’ a glass of beer for ‘B,’ and a photo of Trump for ‘T.’” According to the lawsuit, M.F. later brought the flyer into class, where it reportedly upset a teacher enough that the teacher left the room. Three days later, Assistant Principal Angela Guerrero allegedly called M.F. and another student into her office and assigned them two days of detention. The stated reason, according to the complaint, was that the flyers had “frightened” other students.
The lawsuit argues that the disciplinary response reflected a double standard toward speech viewed as conservative. It notes that, during another protest, students were allowed to display signs comparing ICE to the Ku Klux Klan, while a student who distributed flyers reading, “We love I.C.E. — real Americans,” was initially suspended. The district later reversed that suspension after the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, intervened.
M.F.’s situation escalated later that week, when he was summoned to the vice principal’s office over allegations that he had searched for terms such as “how to load a Glock,” “how to load a magazine,” and “how to dispose of a body” on a school computer. M.F. denied making the searches and said students regularly accessed classmates’ school accounts because they were not protected. The complaint says Guerrero initially accepted the explanation and allowed him to return to class.
The following day, however, several police officers reportedly arrived at the school to question M.F. The lawsuit alleges that officials did not allow his parents to meet with him, directing them instead to speak with a crisis social worker. According to the complaint, the social worker told the parents that a teacher had contacted police because the alleged searches made her feel “scared” and “unsafe.” According to Daily Wire, M.F. was then taken into custody and kept overnight in a mental health facility under a 5150 psychiatric hold.
Police later searched M.F.’s home and bedroom but found no evidence to substantiate the allegations, the lawsuit states. The complaint maintains that M.F. did not perform the alleged searches, make a confession, watch homicide videos or target LGBT students. “The claims were completely false, as school officials were fully aware,” the suit states.
Even after he returned to school, the lawsuit alleges that administrators continued to label M.F. an “LGBT bully,” barred him from varsity baseball, required counseling and urged further evaluations involving “special education placement and ongoing mental health monitoring.”