Minnesota eighth-graders shown videos of ICE arrests and alleged harassment of U.S. citizens; principal says it’s part of state geography standards

According to materials shared with us by a parent, an 8th grade geography class at Hermantown Middle School, part of Hermantown Community Schools in Minnesota, exposed students to slides in December 2025 depicting ICE’s arrest and harassment of legal citizens. (Pictures of the actual slides are below.)

The lesson plan, regarding immigration and ICE, first asks the question, “How is President Trump trying to reduce the large number of undocumented immigrants as promised is in his election campaign?” The response, infused with links is, “Spending $170 billion taxpayer dollars to hire 20,000+ additional I.C.E. agents to find and deport them.”

The material immediately after reads, “In what ways do people think the Ice agents have ‘gone too far’?” The powerpoint then goes through four reasons, first showing their “tricky & violent tactics.” The geography lesson continues, sharing that people are posing as ICE agents to kidnap and hurt immigrants.

One of the geography class slides reads, “ICE has Arrested &/or harassed thousands of LEGAL immigrants and 170 U.S. citizens – including being dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot.” Students can then click on each for details and are encouraged to read more about the cases.

The geography lesson then covers ICE agents putting detainees in “overcrowded & inhumane detention centers,” referring to “overflowing toilets,” “solitary confinement in a 2×2 foot box,” and “super hot or cold” conditions, while lacking medical care.

The bottom of this slide reads, “LEGAL immigrants who were put in detention centers and treated bad 🙁 10 minute video.”

Another slide asks the question, “Why don’t undocumented immigrants just apply to come here legally?” The response reads, “there aren’t enough ‘slots.'”

The lesson then encourages students to watch a 20-minute video on ICE and immigration for extra credit.

The middle school principal expressed via email that these slides align with the state’s standards, writing that, “All of our social studies classes have a current events component to them and this information is part of the MN standards in geography.” We have redacted names and text that includes personal details.

Specifically, the principal cited “Substrand 2: Places and Regions” which emphasizes the notion that “people construct regions to identify, organize and interpret areas of the earth’s surface, which simplifies the earth’s complexity.”

Hermantown Community Schools’ 2024-27 Blueprint for Success includes a list of “intentions” for the district going forward. First on that list is, “For all students to get a quality, equitable, innovative, age-appropriate education.” The second ask is for “A welcoming, inclusive community steeped in tradition and respect.”

The district’s curriculum development “must” include: “strategies to ensure the curriculum is rigorous, accurate, antiracist, culturally sustaining, and reflects the diversity of the student population.” Additionally, the district calls on the advising committee to “improve students’ equitable access to effective and more diverse teachers.”

In order to support these goals, the district explicitly outlines what antiracism looks like in curricula, defining it as: “actively working to identify and eliminate racism in all forms in order to change policies, behaviors, and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions.”

In this statement of definitions, the district also includes “culturally sustaining,” sharing that “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities…continue to be harmed and erased through the education system.”

This strategic document then underscores the importance of “education effectiveness” practices that prioritize a racially and ethnically diverse staff.

Moreover, as part of the district’s longterm strategic plan, they hope to periodically evaluate students’ access to teachers “who are members of populations under-represented among the licensed teachers in the district or school and who reflect the diversity of enrolled students.”

The prioritization of “under-represented groups” is not just for staff. In this same document, the district asks that students participation in gifted and talented programs–with admission as early or kindergarten–be “sensitive to under-represented groups.”