A Vermont school district has faced a barrage of racist threats following its decision to raise a Somali flag, a move made in response to President Donald Trump’s controversial comments about Somali immigrants, whom he referred to as “garbage.”

The leadership at Winooski School District decided to display the flag on December 5, hoisting it above a building that houses classrooms for kindergarten through 12th grade, as well as administrative offices.

Positioned alongside the Vermont state flag and beneath the United States flag, the Somali flag was meant as a gesture of solidarity with the district’s diverse student population, which includes a significant nine percent of Somali descent.

The sight of the flag brought cheers and applause from Somali students, who expressed to administrators how much the gesture meant to them, according to Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria.

However, in the days that followed, Superintendent Chavarria, who himself is a U.S. citizen born in a Nicaraguan refugee camp, reported that the district had received over 200 harassing calls and messages.

Police are investigating the ‘racist and hateful’ communications, with investigators telling WPTZ that it ‘appears to be part of a coordinated national campaign’.

School officials have taken additional precautions to ensure staff and student safety while the investigation is underway, including stationing police officers at buildings and temporarily shutting down the district website.

Chavarria, whose own family self-deported earlier this year after receiving a worrying notice from immigration authorities, intends to continue celebrating the district’s diversity.

Winooski School District in Vermont has received racist threats after it erected a Somali flag (far right) on top of a building in response to President Donald Trump referring to the country’s immigrants as ‘garbage’

Winooski School District Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria  said the Somali flag was flown alongside the Vermont state flag and beneath the US flag in an attempt to show solidarity with the district’s diverse student body – 9 percent of whom are of Somali descent

Chavarria has said his position as superintendent gave him authority to fly the flag for up to a week without the school board’s explicit approval.

The superintendent said district leadership ‘felt really good about it until the ugliness came knocking Monday morning’.

The district erected the flag of Somalia last Friday during an event with catered Somali food. 

Videos of the gathering were shared widely on social media, resulting in a flood of hostile calls, voicemails and social media posts aimed at district workers and students. 

A district spokesperson told the news outlet that it received ‘significant number of racist and hateful messages’ and that many of them ‘specifically referenced the Somali flag and Somali community members’.

‘Our staff members, our administrators and our community are overwhelmed right now, and they are being viciously attacked,’ Chavarria said Tuesday.

‘The content of those attacks is extremely, extremely deplorable. I don’t know what other word to use.’ 

Chavarria also said the footage circulating online did not show the US and Vermont flags were still up in their proper location, with the American flag at the highest point, which he notes was important context.

The flag was flown on the district building’s third flag mast. The US and Vermont flags were still up in their proper location, with the American flag at the highest point

School officials have taken additional precautions to ensure staff and student safety while the investigation is underway, including stationing police officers at buildings

The Winooski School District is helping law enforcement investigate the continued threats. Vermont State Police have said that ‘none of the messages reviewed so far had presented a credible threat of violence.’ 

Federal authorities last week began an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota to focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the US.

Trump claimed ‘they contribute nothing’ and said ‘I don’t want them in our country’.

The Minneapolis mayor has defended the newcomers, saying they have started businesses, created jobs and added to the city’s cultural fabric. Most are American citizens and more than half of all Somali people in Minnesota were born in the US.

The Somalian cultural event held in Winooski last Friday was a direct response to Trump’s latest immigration crackdown. 

‘School officials raised the Somali flag as a gesture of support for our Somali students and families,’ Chavarria said in a statement on the district’s Facebook page. 

‘We chose to raise the Somali flag to acknowledge and support our Somali students during a time when many in their community are feeling particularly vulnerable. 

‘This action reflects our commitment to ensuring all students feel seen, valued, and supported in our schools.’

Chavarria is a US citizen who was born at a refugee camp in Nicaragua. His family (pictured) self-deported earlier this year after receiving a worrying notices immigration authorities

Chavarria also admitted he ‘felt sorrow for the students, the families, the little kids that are my responsibility to keep safe’.

Mukhtar Abdullahi, an immigrant who serves as a multilingual liaison for families in the district who speak Somali and a related dialect, said ‘no one, no human being, regardless of where they come from, is garbage’.

Students have asked if their immigrant parents are safe, he added. ‘Regardless of what happens, I know we have a strong community. And I’m very, very, very thankful to be part of it.’

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson has described the threats directed at the school as ‘actions of individuals who have nothing to do with’ Trump.

‘Aliens who come to our country, complain about how much they hate America, fail to contribute to our economy, and refuse to assimilate into our society should not be here,’ Jackson said in a statement late Thursday.

‘And American schools should fly American flags.’

Winooski School District (WSD) appears to take pride in its diverse student body and regularly promotes inclusivity on its social media pages.

The district has an antiracism steering committee, which aims to support staff and administrators in making WSD an ‘antiracist school district’.

District leadership also highlight students’ ‘diverse and unique’ communities in its newsletters and celebrates holidays valued by these cultures. 

President Donald Trump raged against Somali immigrants last week, saying they ‘do nothing but b***h’ about America and should ‘go back to where they came from’. Pictured: Trump stands up to depart after holding a meeting with his Cabinet on December 2

Demonstrators rally in protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement on December 8 amid an immigration operation targeting the Somali community in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Chavarria also appeared before lawmakers in Washington DC on Tuesday to testify against what he and other activists have called ‘unconstitutional detentions’ by ICE.

‘I do not feel like I am free to visit my mother without being afraid that I will be detained or disappeared at any time for any reason,’ Chavarria told the public forum. ‘I don’t think any American should be deprived of the right to visit their mother.’ 

The superintendent was invited to participate in the forum after having been detained by customs agents at a Houston airport in July as he returned home after visiting his family in Nicaragua, WPTZ reported.

He said he was separated from his husband and ‘subjected to abusive interrogation’. 

Comparing the detainment as being ‘abducted by a gang of aggressive, violent people’, he argued that he was ‘treated in a manner that is deeply disturbing and unacceptable’.

His detainment came just three months after his brother, sister-in-law and two nieces self-deported back to Nicaragua, the news outlet reported.

Chavarria’s family reportedly received a notice from Homeland Security ordering them to leave the country or face deportation. 

Immigration authorities sent the notice in April to 532,000 immigrants in the CHNV Parole Program, a Joe Biden initiative which allowed hundreds of thousands of nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the US.