When the Supreme Court overturned a 41-year-old precedent that allowed public sector unions to compel non-members to pay so-called agency fees for collective bargaining, it said such arrangements violate the First Amendment right against compelled speech.The 35,000-strong teachers union in Tinseltown, known recently for its political advocacy against Israel, found a new source of easy money for activism that’s wholly separate from collective bargaining: taxpayers.
Planning documents and materials from United Teachers of Los Angeles, obtained by parental rights group Defending Education, suggest UTLA sought to hijack taxpayer-funded Los Angeles Unified School District resources and professional development obligations to resist Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, perhaps by force.
A photo of giant sticky notes headlined “discipline/student safety” includes the ominous bullet point “engaging students in community self-defense” – which also happens to be the name of a martial-arts studio in nearby Orange County – and “offer service learning hours,” which implies counting such self-defense toward non-academic graduation requirements.
One flyer gives detailed instructions on how to share information about law enforcement movements, specifying the number of agents, where and what they’re doing, what they’re wearing, their “equipment and weapons” and the time of observation.
A poster intended to be placed outside offices claims ICE cannot use administrative warrants to enter offices or question personnel, citing three California laws – likely preempted by federal law – and the Fourth Amendment. It threatens “legal recourse” for “trespassing” if agents try anyway.
The Department of Homeland Security claims such warrants are valid with an immigration judge’s “final order of removal.” It refers to SCOTUS’s 1960 Abel precedent on “legislative recognition of the propriety of administrative arrest for deportable aliens” and the Fourth Amendment’s “touchstone” of a “reasonable” search, not the form of warrant.
Incentivizing K-12 students to actively resist ICE could be a new frontier for education activists, who have long focused on college campuses to stymie federal law enforcement.
The University of Maine Career Center removed Customs and Border Protection as a participating employer from the website for its Feb. 11 career fair, followed by CBP officially dropping out, the Maine Campus reported Feb. 9. Those actions followed Jan. 28 boycott demands by the Graduate Workers Union among other student groups.
CBP’s DHS sibling ICE, often conflated with each other by activists, backed out of Arizona State University’s Jan. 22 career fair for law students following a threatened protest and petition organized by the National Lawyers Guild, a far-left group known in recent years for legally supporting Antifa and racial justice riots.
LAUSD emphasized to Just the News that UTLA “is a separate legal entity” and that “questions regarding its trainings or internal activities should be directed to UTLA.” The district expects employees to follow “applicable laws and District policies … during the workday and in their interactions with students.”
Asked whether UTLA commandeering the district’s taxpayer-funded resources and misappropriating professional development obligations for ICE resistance would violate any law, regulation or policy, and whether LAUSD would have any legal recourse against the union, the spokesperson told Just the News it had nothing to add.
UTLA did not answer queries Wednesday and Thursday for its explanation of how the materials don’t misuse taxpayer funds or school property for activism, what exactly “community self-defense” means and legal precedents that back its view of administrative warrants.
Buying bullhorns and ‘banner making machines,’ commandeering security cameras
The materials acquired by Defending Education are largely photos of giant handwritten sticky notes, presentation slides and PDFs. Some of them appear to imply coordination between the district and UTLA when federal agents visit school grounds.
A district guide titled “SCHOOL SAFETY PLAN: RESPONDING TO IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT,” last updated Aug. 5, 2025, lays out the protocol for stopping federal agents, recording them if they refuse to leave and putting the school on “lockdown.” It’s written in English and Spanish.
Red bars in the guide indicate UTLA roles, including “activation” by contacting the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network and elected officials and notifying the media “to go to school.” Another says the union will send LARRN to “mobilize to the school for a rally-action. Surround the school with supporters. Media will be invited; media briefing as needed.”
UTLA also has its own “Immigration Enforcement Safety Review” checklist for when agents visit school. The “After Crisis Response” heading includes the item “Have we created a sy[s]tem of mutual aid and support for families who have experienced an abduction?”
A presentation titled “Preparing for ICE at your school” also portrays any immigration enforcement involving children as “student kidnapping” and includes materials from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which portrays ICE as flouting a court order by asking a federal appeals court to lift a temporary restraining order on immigration raids.
It refers to LAUSD’s February 2025 “reference guide” on “Campuses as Safe Zones and Resource Centers” to inhibit federal law enforcement. A slide titled “UTLA’s response” says it has a memorandum of understanding with LAUSD designating “the buildings and grounds … sanctuary spaces,” which they will defend “to the extent permitted by law.”
Recounting UTLA’s response a year ago, a timeline says it kicked off a “summer of resistance” with “20 days of non-violent protest and action.”
