U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, joined students, faculty and staff for a walkout of Southwest Detroit’s Western International High School to protest ICE last Friday —telling students who are failing basic proficiency tests that ICE is coming after them.
Tlaib’s presence at the event also marks a nexus point between labor unions and far-left activist groups that challenges the current “student-led” narrative on walkouts.
“They’re coming after all of us. I don’t say this to make you scared, I say this so you can prepare,” Tlaib said. “We are the only ones who can protect us. Do you understand? So when I say ICE, you say OUT,” Tlaib said before proceeding to lead a call and response chant.
The event, covered by El Central Hispanic News, marks a series of protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, involving K-12 public schools across Michigan framed as “student-led protests.”
For example, the ANTIFA aligned By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN caucus of the teachers union, reportedly organized the Cass Technical High School walkout on Feb. 10, 2026. The group’s leadership – which includes Justin Cheong, a Chinese national in the country illegally – has tagged school administrators all across social media in photos of the event—clearly depicting BAMN leading the walkout.
The events – held every Friday – align with broader organizing efforts by the Sunrise Movement, and the National Education Association through “Project Rise Up.”
Announced as a collective effort during the “Roadmap to Political Revolution,” Project Rise Up is an effort to mobilize students every Friday leading up to May Day. The Project’s 25-page K-12 training playbook offers a step-by-step strategy to disrupting “business as usual,” boycotting ICE-linked businesses, and faculty recruitment tools to share in the classroom, like text lines and links to weekly organizer trainings.
Tlaib maintains close connections to the NEA and the Sunrise Movement – which have both endorsed Tlaib, funding her prior elections.
Actions, often organized via social messaging apps like Reddit, BlueSky and Mobilize.us, involve the same chants of “ICE out” with repetitive signs reading “No human is illegal on stolen land.” Aside from disrupting classes, walkouts are drawing criticism and alarm from parents and some lawmakers who argue they prioritize political activism over education.
In the Detroit metro area, where recent walkouts like the one Tlaib attended Friday have been centralized, students are being failed and left behind academically. While the state ranks 44th in the nation for basic math and reading scores, Detroit schools have continuously fallen further behind in national averages—a stark reality reflected in students’ misspelled anti-ICE signs.
The Detroit metro area also boasts the highest rates of the NEA’s 79,465 members across the state.
#Detroit #CassTech #Walkout #StopICEnow #BAMN 2/10/26
BAMN.com
While this nexus between unions, union teachers and activist groups likely explains the rise of walkouts – furthered by evidence of school administrators notifying activists whenever federal officers are spotted, parents have expressed growing concerns over escalating calls for sanctuary protocols that potentially place their children in harm’s way.
One such protocol involves training students to act as human shields in the event that federal officers show up on campus. Instructional playbooks direct staff on how to build upon current sanctuary protocols, including amassing students in the school courtyard to surround any individual that officers may be looking for.
“If ICE asks for someone by name, every student raises their hand to say they are that person,“ reads one of the protocols.
