Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger praised anti-ICE school walkouts Tuesday during her Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union (SOTU) address.

“So I’ll ask again, is the president working for you?” Spanberger asked viewers. “We all know the answer is no. But here’s the special thing about America. On our 250th anniversary, we know better than any nation what is possible when ordinary citizens like those who once dreamed right here in this room reject the unacceptable and demand more of their government.”

The newly elected governor applauded students for staging walkouts across the country.

“We see it in the determination of students organizing school walkouts all across the country, whose voices are becoming so powerful that the governor of Texas seeks to silence them,” she said. “We see it in the bravery of Americans in Minnesota standing up for their communities — from peacefully protesting in subzero temperatures to carpooling children to school — so that their immigrant parents are not ripped away from them in the parking lot.”

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Feb. 24, 2026, in Williamsburg, Virginia. ( Mike Kropf/Getty Images)

Spanberger said she was inspired by their bravery before pivoting to her victory in Virginia.

“As a mother of three school-age daughters, I am inspired by their bravery, but I am sickened that it is necessary,” she said. “And Americans across the country are taking action. They are going to the ballot box to reject this chaos. With their votes, they are writing a new story, a more hopeful story. In November, I won my election by 15 points.” 

More than 300 Virginia students were suspended after staging a student-led anti-ICE walkout that spilled off campus and drew a police response earlier this month.

At Woodbridge High School in a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., Principal Heather Abney said students left the building to “express their views on an issue that is important to them.” In a letter to parents, Abney explained that while walkouts are a form of expression, students “did not remain on school grounds and instead left campus.”

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In Kyle, Texas, roughly 500 students participated in anti-ICE walkouts from five different schools within the Hays Consolidated Independent School District on Monday, walking to the downtown area, according to a statement from the Kyle Police Department.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shared a video of law enforcement arresting one of two students charged after the demonstration earlier this month.

“It’s about time students like this were arrested. Harming someone is a crime — even for students,” Abbott wrote in the post. “Disruptive walkouts allowed by schools lead to just this kind of chaos.”

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In Cincinnati, Ohio, a video of students causing chaos in a Kroger grocery store went viral last week after they walked out of school for a purported anti-ICE demonstration.

In the video — taken by store customer McAdrian Martin — students ran through aisles and threw objects at the store’s ceiling. Martin said there were beer cans and other adult beverages that had been ripped from the shelves.

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A security guard yelled at the students to get out of the store.

Fox News’ Alexandra Koch and Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.

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