Tipsheet

St. Paul Teachers Union Orders Members to ‘Pick a Side’ and Walk Out Over Anti-ICE Demands

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  January 15, 2026 8:30 AM

It's really hard to argue against the notion that public teachers' unions are little more than communist front groups. As we showed you the other day, the Chicago Teachers' Union (CTU) could find the time to travel to Venezuela and rub elbows with Maduro, but they couldn't be bothered to learn how to spell.

It explains why kids in Chicago can't read or do math on grade-level.

Now the teachers' union in St. Paul, Minnesota, is issuing demands to ICE and vowing to walk out.

They told members to "pick a side" in this debate. 

The letter to members read:

In 1946, our predecessors went on the first organized teachers’ strike in US history. They went on strike for toilet paper and books, two pressing needs at the time. Their strike was illegal. This decision was not made lightly and educators did what was necessary to meet the needs of their students.

80 years later, we find ourselves at a moment in time — yet again — that demands we stand in our values to protect the lives of our students and their families. Our union has never backed down from challenging and difficult choices. The importance of all of us standing together in community to show our families and our nation that we will hold the line for what is right cannot be understated.

We are at a time where people must choose what side they are on. And just like in 1946, SPFE chooses to be on the side of our students and our St. Paul community.

Yesterday, your SPFE Executive Board agreed to support a Day of Action that calls for no work, no school, and no shopping on Friday, January 23, 2026.

The three demands of this day are:

  1. ICE must leave Minnesota now.

  2. The officer who killed Renee Good must be held legally accountable.

  3. No additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming budget.

SPFE is asking each member to decide for themselves how they will answer the call to this Day of Action, and to this moment at large.

Solidarity isn’t just a noun — it is the most sacred value we hold and action we can take as union.

The time is now.

Some saw this as a win for kids, like Nick Freitas, who wrote, "I'm actually a huge fan of this...I'd much rather Leftist teachers spend their time with ICE agents instead of children."

Others were a little darker in their assessment, but still accurate:

Others pointed out the inherent fascism in making union members think as leadership does.

Some rightly called for these teachers to be fired, although that'll never happen.

This writer worked as a nurse, and if she ever walked off the job, it would have been considered abandoning her patients, and she would have been fired and likely lost her license.

Something needs to give in Minnesota. This insurrection cannot be allowed to last.