Executive Summary
Unearthed Minnesota activist organizing documents include the promotion of “school, neighbor, and parent alert groups” facilitated by an organization that is affiliated with and funded by a Minnesota teachers union, as well as “threat of occupation” steps and guidance from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).
Teachers Unions and Affiliated Groups
A document titled “MN Community Response Resources” promotes tactics for organizing neighborhoods and communication systems aimed at protecting citizens from “abduction, disappearance, invasion, occupation, and attack.”
This document contains an extensive list of tutorials and links outlining various methods used to alert others to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity within the community. These tactics include “audible emergency alerts” using whistles and horns, door-knocking activities, “Rapid Response Networks & ICE Watch,” “Tracking Federal Agents,” “Community Safety Squads & Patrols,” as well as efforts described as “Lowering the Comfort & Raising the Internal Moral Tension and Psychological Pressure of Agents.”
One of the tactics referred to as “Rapid Response Networks & ICE Watch” consists of “fast communications networks for verifying and dispatching Rapid Responders to threats of abduction and snatch squads that are deployed in our cities and neighborhoods.” The document adds that this tactic includes “Keeping an eye out in your neighborhood with Foot, Bike, and Car Patrols and people monitoring and watching on corners, key intersections, and important community spaces.”
Underneath “Rapid Response Networks…,” a subsection titled “Local Text alert groups for rapid response and information sharing” includes a group called Minneapolis Families for Public Schools (MFPS), an initiative by the organization Take Action Minnesota.
The Minneapolis Families for Public Schools’ webpage states that it stands with “Minneapolis Federation of Educators (MFE) as they negotiate their next contract from bargaining to the picket lines if necessary.”
An event webpage for the organization titled “Minnesota families outside of Mpls: caucus to get ICE out of schools!” states that “elections f**king matter” and that “we deserve politicians who actually act to get ICE out of our schools, and who deliver the housing for all, food support, universal pre-K, and universal health care — and more! — that our families and communities deserve.”
The focus of the training is to “learn and practice how to show up where your voice has outsize power: precinct caucuses” and “earn what precinct caucus is, why it matters, and how we can show up to make sure that only #FamiliesOverBillionaires and #ICEout candidates get what they need to run competitive races.”
Recently, MFPS appears to have created a form for people to “Report ICE at your school!” The webpage states that the form is intended to “report how ICE is impacting your school” and that they “do not need reports of them just driving by but if they were stationed outside, did activity within a two block radius or impacted a family at your school in other ways we want to know.” It also states not to “submit sensitive info (names/identifying info) of folks who were detained or abducted by ICE.”
The form concludes by adding that they will “use aggregate data from this form for future MFPS organizing or for legal strategies to get ICE out of schools.”
According to federal documents reviewed by Defending Education, Take Action Minnesota has received $132,500 in funding from Education Minnesota since 2015. Education Minnesota, an affiliate of both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), gave Take Action MN $50,000 in August of 2025 alone.
In 2018, the State Engagement Fund gave a $90,000 grant to the Minnesota group. According to federal tax documents, the State Engagement Fund has received over $54M from both the AFT and NEA since 2016. Additionally, the Center for Popular Democracy, a recipient of roughly $25M from the AFT and NEA, has donated over $90,000 to the Minnesota organization (2015 and 2023).
Take Action MN also received $335,000 from New Venture Fund in 2014.
Chicago Teachers Union
The document also promotes a Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Instagram post as an example of individuals and groups taking action. Under a section titled “Audible Emergency Alerts – Examples in Action,” the linked post states:
When federal agents attacked a neighborhood with tear gas near Funston Elementary, CTU delegate Maria Heavener didn’t wait for permission — she organized.
Within minutes, she activated neighborhood safety chats and over 100 parents and neighbors lined the streets to protect kids walking home. In a city under attack, Maria and her community showed what courage, care and solidarity looks like.
We Keep Us Safe.
The CTU webpage “Defend Your School Community Under Threat of Occupation” includes various “tools” intended to aid teachers and school staff in the event that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are in the area.
A section titled “Sidewalk Solidarity Action Checklist” includes recruiting members for the “school’s Sidewalk Solidarity Team,” creating a “group chat (use Signal, if possible) or other notification system” and directing members to “refer to Monitoring and Documentation guidelines below for guidance in the case of any federal presence.”
The following section on “Best practices for monitoring and documenting federal activity” shares what members should be on the look out for including: “unusual activities or individuals such as unknown cars or people, especially those wearing masks or gear that identify them as law enforcement or federal agents of any sort.”
The CTU guide also includes a “Parent script” for teachers to use when communicating with parents about ICE agents in the area.
