Flaming Fabio – the alias of a radical anti-ICE activist, whose violent history of assault and obstruction is chronicled by X account @KimKatieUSA – was permitted entry into a locked San Diego school last week while being chased by federal officers. The decision by Principal Desi Sullivan to permit him entry has raised alarm while also highlighting recently implemented sanctuary policies influenced by far-left activist groups and the nation’s largest teachers union, such as using school children as human shields.
ICE chased Arturo, aka Flaming Fabio, into a school. Arturo is a well-known agitator and obstructionist.
I've posted dozens of his videos in the last year where he harasses and impedes ICE operations in the Southern California region. https://t.co/6OB4xg3v2j pic.twitter.com/PeJSgekqFg
— Kim "Katie" USA (@KimKatieUSA) March 7, 2026
On March 4, 2026, during a targeted ICE operation in San Diego County, activist Arturo Gonzalez AKA “Flaming Fabio” – known by federal officials as a violent agitator with a criminal history including arrests for assault with a deadly weapon, DUI, reckless driving conviction, and a 2023 domestic violence restraining order – fled from officers and entered King Chavez Community High School.
Video posted by Gonzalez shows him pleading, “Hey! They’re after me, will you let me in?” before Principal Desi Sullivan unlocked the building and allowed him inside, where he then taunted agents.
In a statement attributable to an ICE spokesperson, the agency said: “While officers were carrying out their lawful duties, the individual attempted to interfere with the operation. When officers moved to apprehend him, he fled from ICE officers and ran into King Chavez Community High School.”
ICE statement from the incident near King Chavez Community High School. pic.twitter.com/nUGI4O6lGF
— ICE San Diego (@EROSanDiego) March 7, 2026
“Running from law enforcement into an active school campus created a dangerous situation and unnecessarily put children, staff, and officers at risk. It is deeply disturbing that a school administrator allowed an individual with no affiliation to the school who was actively fleeing from federal officers and has a documented criminal history to remain inside the campus,” the statement continued.
Shockingly, what appeared at first to be a chance encounter, was later revealed by Gonzalez himself to be a premeditated and coordinated effort with the school’s principal to obstruct agents. Taking to Instagram, Gonzalez revealed that he had been in prior communication with Sullivan—calling her his hero.
The incident echoes sanctuary-style school protocols advocated by activist groups like BAMN, a caucus within the National Education Association, known for militant anti-ICE activism.
As previously reported by Deported.news, BAMN has had a significant role in organizing school walkouts. In Detroit, BAMN led students in a walkout at Cass Technical High School on Feb. 10, 2026, protesting ICE, while also promoting measures where students are instructed to act as human shields by surrounding targeted individuals or collectively claiming to be the person sought by officers.
According to BAMN, these tactics were first associated with efforts at a Berkeley high school where a protocol was created of “amassing in the school courtyard and surrounding the undocumented person. If ICE asks for someone by name, every student raises their hand to say they are that person.”
The group advises teachers and students to “prepare a protocol for what to do if ICE comes to your school,” advocating for nationwide copies of these same tactics.
At the University of California Berkeley, a new series hosted by the American Cultures Center is developing legal guidance and protocols for “What to Do If ICE Comes to Campus.” These protocols, which also include barring access to federal officers and prohibiting cooperation with immigration enforcement, appear to be central to the Southern California events witnessed last week.
Such actions also tie into broader union-aligned networks, including the Sunrise Movement’s Road to Political Revolution, and Project Rise Up, hosted in partnership with the NEA—providing teacher trainings and playbooks for organizing school walkouts and sustained May Day disruptions. A recent example featured U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib D-Mich., who told Detroit students, “They’re coming after all of us,” during the Feb. 27, 2026 walkout at Western International High School.
Critics argue that anti-ICE efforts go too far when they risk endangering students and campus safety to shield individuals evading law enforcement. Principal Sullivan, nor the King Chavez Community High School have responded publicly following the event.
