As teachers unions across Michigan work to organize student protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some school administrators are warning walkouts will come with consequences.
L’Anse Creuse Public Schools “respects student voice, civil engagement, and students’ First Amendment rights; however, our responsibility during the school day is student safety, supervision, and uninterrupted learning,” Superintendent Keith Howell wrote in a Thursday statement cited by Macomb Daily.
The warning came in response to social media posts detailing a planned walkout at the closed campus in Harrison Township on Friday.
“Any student who leaves class or campus without permission will be addressed under the Student Code of Conduct and attendance policies,” Howell wrote.
Lanse Creuse school board trustees Sandra Hernden and Shane Sellers reiterated that message with a joint statement posted to Facebook.
“Students and staff are entitled to their own personal views, but school time is for learning, NOT ACTIVISM!” the statement read. “Students who leave class or campus without permission, including to participate in a demonstration, will be considered insubordination and marked unexcused, consistent with the Student Code of Conduct and attendance policies.”
The trustees also offered their own personal views about immigration enforcement.
“We support federal law enforcement in their actions to remove illegal violent criminal aliens that reside in our communities,” Hernden and Sellers wrote. “Furthermore, it is ironic that the same students and staff who want to protest law enforcement, are seeking their protection.
“It is our job to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff, as well as ensuring your tax-dollars are well-spent, and students and staff walking out of class and out of the building during the school day does not accomplish either. It is a waste of valuable resources from our law enforcement partners.”
It was a similar message from officials at Chippewa Valley Schools to students at Dakota High School who were planning a walkout and protest along 21 Mile Road in Macomb Township.
In a letter to parents, Superintendent Ron Roberts and the district’s high school principals explained they are not responsible for the safety of students who leave campus, and those students will not be allowed to return for the day.
Students who participate in walkouts will also face disciplinary actions outlined in the Student Handbook and Code of Conduct, Roberts wrote.
“The district takes no position regarding the viewpoints expressed,” read the letter to parents cited by Macomb Daily. “Our focus remains on student safety, consistent expectations, and protecting learning time for students.”
Other Michigan school districts apparently have different priorities.
In Ann Arbor, hundreds of students from several high schools ignored warnings to remain on campus as they marched through downtown Wednesday to the city’s federal building to protest ICE operations.
The students toted signs that read “Abolish ICE” and “Due Process Now,” while chanting slogans like “Power to the people, no one is illegal” and “ICE out now, MLive reports.
“The Ann Arbor Public Schools fully respects and supports students’ First Amendment rights and understands the desire many students have right now to raise their voices and express their thoughts on important issues across our nation,” Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Jazz Parks wrote in message urging students to stay on campus.
Other student walkouts have taken place in Ypsilanti, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Lowell, Traverse City, East Lansing, Northview, Rockford, Portage, Berkley, Pontiac, and other cities in Michigan.
In many cases, the protests are backed by activist teachers and local unions working to push progressive policies on students who are already struggling with academics.
“Mitchell Elementary in Ann Arbor today,” state Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, posted to X on Wednesday, along with images of posters allegedly crafted by students. “It’s not cool if they can’t even spell. Communist parents want their kids trained by good strong communist teechers. Get it?”
One poster read “ICE should be in are drinck. Not in are city streets we hate I.C.E”
“ICE shoud be in my drinks not my city!” read another.
Other examples of school political pressures include the Hamtramck Federation of Teachers calling for abolishing ICE, the Ann Arbor Education Association demanding Congress to make schools “protected spaces from ICE,” and webinars from American Federation of Teachers Michigan on “responding to ICE and ways to stay safe while exercising your rights.”
“Parents keep messaging me asking a fair question,” independent journalist Dave Bondy posted to X, where he has chronicled school protests and union organizing. “How does the Walled Lake Michigan teachers union protesting ICE improve their child’s education? Many parents say this has nothing to do with reading, math or learning, and they find it ridiculous that schools and unions are focused on political activism instead of academics.”
During Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s tenure, the Great Lakes State has fallen from 32nd in fourth grade reading to 44th, with data from the Michigan Department of Education last year illustrating the statewide decline.
In the most recent M-STEP exam, only 38.9% of third graders scored proficient in reading, the lowest result on record since the state adopted the test a decade ago. In 2019, the year Whitmer took office, nearly 45% of Michigan third graders were reading at grade level.
While Michigan teachers focus on demonizing ICE, federal agents continue to remove scores of bad hombres from the Great Lakes State amid the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
They include George Jimenez-Sanchez, a 36-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras with a warrant for gun possession and intent to distribute cocaine, and Indra Gurung, an illegal immigrant from Bhutan, who has previous convictions for stalking, aggravated stalking, domestic violence and OWI, according to ICE Detroit’s X feed.
Others involve suspected war criminal Charles Emile Mbayo, a high-ranking member of the National Provision Ruling Council that overthrew Sierra Leone’s government in the 1990s, reportedly killing dozens of political opponents in the process, according to ICE.
There is also the arrests of Tren de Aragua gang members from Venezuela, a convicted arsonist and convicted murderer nabbed on the same day, a previously deported illegal immigrant from Mexico wanted for alleged child exploitation, and an illegal immigrant from Venezuela facing charges for child pornography.
A Department of Homeland Security website detailing the “Worst of the Worst” illegal immigrants nabbed by ICE in Michigan lists at least 202 with prior convictions, from prostituting a minor, to cocaine smuggling, to homicide, negligent manslaughter, lascivious acts with a minor, rape, willful homicide, smuggling aliens, cruelty toward a child, sexual exploitation of a minor, racketeering, sodomy, and dozens of other heinous crimes.
