Across the country, students are being pulled out of math class and into the front lines of a political fight, as teachers’ unions organize resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement from inside the schoolhouse.
While young people are in the spotlight for finding a creative way to skip class, teachers’ unions are simultaneously thrusting K-12 students, schools, and communities into the middle of a political revolution.
This social contagion is leaving in its wake fear and chaos, missed class time, injured children, and the occasional mob action by teachers.
A trove of recently unearthed United Teachers Los Angeles documents exposes this agenda. The materials reveal how the Southern California teachers’ union intends to use schools as “forms of resistance” against ICE actions. The collection of plans includes rapid-response protests by union members, spending school funds on bullhorns and whistles, and using professional development time to train teachers and staff to create and distribute “door-hanger immigration kits.”
The plotting does not stop there; the plans also state that organizers want to “engage students in community self-defense” and offer them “service learning hours” to do so.
This anti-ICE training and mobilization is not unique to UTLA; it is a strategy being promoted by teachers’ unions nationwide.
For example, on Oct. 9, the Chicago Teachers Union posted to Instagram about how a Chicago Public Schools elementary teacher and union delegate quickly organized 100 parents and community members through “neighborhood safety chats” in response to alleged ICE activity in the immediate area. This was not organic; it was described as a preplanned reaction to any federal law enforcement actions.
In fact, the CTU provides its members with a “CTU Sanctuary Toolkit 2025” and an “ICE Safety Plan” in the event such situations arise. The documents instruct teachers and staff to put the school into a “soft lockdown,” use the all-call system to warn the community of potential ICE activity in the area, and stay off social media and phones.
However, the union’s social justice activism does not stop there. In late January, CTU members can be seen on video confronting Target store employees. The group demanded that the retail company sever ties with ICE and refuse to cooperate with law enforcement actions.
In December, Oregon’s largest teachers union, the Oregon Education Association, hosted trainings for 600 of its members. Despite the state having a literacy rate below 45 percent and some of the lowest test scores nationally, the union used the opportunity to train educators and school staff on how to “keep students and families safe” in the wake of federal immigration enforcement. The anti-ICE trainings focused on preparing for and responding to ICE officers near schools.
Like the CTU, the OEA does not limit itself to on-campus civil disobedience. In January, the OEA and the American Federation of Teachers of Oregon co-organized a rally in Portland to “fight back against ICE terror.” The protest eventually turned chaotic, leading to the deployment of crowd-control measures and children being tear-gassed.
These efforts to thwart immigration law enforcement are becoming normalized in the K-12 education system. Teachers’ unions are prioritizing social justice activism over the education of children. They are willing to use children, families, and schools to pursue political objectives.
If unions succeed in realizing their goals, these tactics will not stop. They will become standard operating procedure. Parents and communities need to demand that teachers’ unions stop using other people’s children and schools to pursue political power through publicly funded activism.
It is time to end teachers’ unions’ control over the education system.
Rhyen Staley is a researcher for Parents Defending Education, a conservative non-profit organization. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Reprinted with permission from DC Journal by Rhyen Staley.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.