Teachers Union AFT Passes Resolution Backing Sanctuary Efforts to Block ICE Enforcement

The American Federation of Teachers, America's second-largest teachers union and a major Democratic donor, passed a resolution at its annual convention on July 18 opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity connected to schools and communities.

The resolution calls on governors, attorneys general, mayors and other state and local leaders to use, in the union's words, "every tool in their toolbox" to keep ICE agents out of what it calls sensitive locations, require judicial warrants before immigration enforcement actions, and stop state and local law enforcement from coordinating with ICE.

It also calls on officials to safeguard public school districts against enrollment declines through state intervention and financial assistance, a provision AFT frames as protecting immigrant families from having their kids pulled out of school over enforcement fears.

AFT President Randi Weingarten has been a vocal advocate for the union's positions on immigration enforcement in schools. The union did not respond to a request through public channels clarifying how it intends to enforce compliance with the resolution beyond lobbying elected officials.

The Legal Distinction That Matters

A key factual point in this dispute: immigration enforcement is generally a civil matter, not a criminal one. Because of this, ICE agents do not need judicial warrants to carry out enforcement actions — administrative warrants are considered sufficient.

Demanding judicial warrants for all ICE actions, as the AFT resolution proposes, would impose a legal standard that does not currently match how civil immigration law operates.

A Broader Pattern of State Resistance

The AFT resolution lands amid a wider pattern of Democratic-led states pushing back against federal immigration enforcement. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has threatened to deploy his state's National Guard troops against federal agents. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has described federal immigration enforcement in her district as an occupying force. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has signed laws attempting to dictate how federal agents enforce immigration law in the state.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek have openly said immigration law should not be enforced in their jurisdictions, and many states and cities have directed local law enforcement not to cooperate with ICE on removals of people in the country illegally.

The Nullification Framing

The Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neil frames this resistance as echoing the nullification doctrine that South Carolina invoked in the Nullification Crisis of 1832, which he says formed part of the bedrock for the South's secession movements leading up to the Civil War, calling it a "neo-Confederate" pattern.

O'Neil acknowledges today's sanctuary movement "differs in many respects" from the 1832 crisis, but argues it likewise aims to frustrate federal enforcement by mobilizing state and local power against national policy.

Money and Motive

The American Federation of Teachers has long supported Democrats and left-leaning causes, and its political action arm has contributed to Democratic candidates in races across the country, according to public records cited by the parental rights group Defending Education, which found the union contributed $500,000 to Spanberger's 2025 gubernatorial campaign in Virginia.

Corey DeAngelis, a research fellow for education policy at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal the union "functions as nothing more than a money-laundering operation for the Democrat Party," adding that "99% of the contributions from Randi Weingarten's union go to Democrats." Lora Ries, director of Heritage's border security and immigration center, said the union is pushing a list of "sensitive areas" where it claims ICE shouldn't operate, which she said would render the agency "unable to do its job."

What Happens Next

No federal lawsuit has been filed against the AFT specifically over the resolution, and no court ruling addressing whether school districts can lawfully bar ICE agents from campuses has been cited in connection with this dispute. The practical fight is likely to continue playing out state by state as more Democratic-led states and cities weigh similar non-cooperation measures.