Climate Organization Behind Anti-ICE Protests Is Leading May 1 School Walkout Plan, Parent Group Reports
Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
One of the main organizations behind the recent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations is encouraging children to walk out of class en masse next month to help promote its agenda, which includes achieving what it said are “Eco-socialism, [a] multi-racial democracy, and Green New Deal legislation,” according to a April 8 report by representatives of parent group Defending Education.
The Sunrise Movement, during its March 17 online membership meeting, called on schools to “train up” employees and students to disrupt the federal government ahead of planned May 1 “May Day” protests as part of an ongoing “political revolution” to “structurally change the foundations of this country,” according to slides Defending Education, a nonprofit opposing indoctrination in classrooms, obtained from a tipster who attended the meeting.
The Sunrise Movement, according to the slides and its website, describes itself as an anti-President Donald Trump “climate revolution” group that advocates socialism, supports a rainbow coalition of the multi-racial working class, and calls for an end to the “billionaire” two-party political system.
In addition to mass school walkouts, the organization is also calling for more disruptions to Hilton hotels, which have housed ICE officers, according to the slides. Past actions included calling for boycotts of the hotel chain and engaging in “wide awake” events where protestors gathered outside of Hilton-branded hotels and made as much noise as possible to prevent ICE officers—and everyone else staying there—from sleeping.
Another slide illustrates a domino effect that starts with the ideological conversion of students and young people and spreads to teachers, customer service workers, city service workers, factory service workers, shipping and transportation workers, and ultimately “military and police defections.”
“They have zero reservations about using children to advance their political ideology,” Rhyen Staley, Defending Education research director, told The Epoch Times. “These kids are being used for their propaganda.”
The Sunrise Movement was frequently listed in an earlier report produced by Staley that identified 357 protests and walkouts at middle schools and high schools so far this year. He said the organization, backed by wealthy donors, recruits students via social media and provides signs used at the protests.
The slide presentation is not currently on the Sunrise Movement’s website, but the information noted in it is contained in different pages throughout the site, including a “student rise-up” guide.
“May Day 2026 is our chance to practice mass non-cooperation, prove our power so we can pick bigger fights, and set the movement’s agenda with clear demands,” the guide says.
“On May Day 2026, students at hundreds of schools are walking out, rising up, and disrupting business as usual.”
Staley anticipates participation from K-12 students across the country, especially in Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and California. Most of them, he said, don’t necessarily agree with or understand the ideology they’ll be walking out for; it’s just a chance to get out of class.
He previously told The Epoch Times that teacher unions are connected to public school protests nationwide.
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA) teachers’ union, appeared in a Sunrise Movement video two days before the Jan. 30 “National Day of Action” coordinated by the coalition NationalShutdown.org.
“On behalf of the education professionals who belong to the NEA ... thank you, Sunrise, for standing on the front lines in Minneapolis and in so many cities across our nation, demanding justice in all forms,” Pringle said in the video.
Staley said these events exacerbate what he said is an ongoing discipline crisis in public schools. Districts might not have updated policies to address walkouts or delegate responsibility to teachers, who might only deduct class participation points with no further discipline for skipping class without an excused absence. School officials often don’t understand how freedom of speech protections apply in school settings and fear they’ll be sued for First Amendment violations if they don’t allow students to participate in walkouts.
“They don’t want nastygrams [from attorneys] and the bad attention,” he said. “They’d rather deal with the fallout from just a few parents afterward.”
Safety is another concern, given the heightened fear of terrorism. A massive May 1 mobilization of children is a dangerous idea right now, Staley said.
Defending Education urges parents to talk with their children about the consequences of skipping classes to promote politics they don’t necessarily support. Teachers can also use this current event as a teaching moment and challenge students to state their views in writing as if they were submitting a letter to Congress or their local newspaper.
“[Students’] responsibility is to be as educated as possible,” he said, “so [they belong] in a classroom.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Sunrise Movement for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
Janice Hisle, Savannah Hulsey Pointer, and Darlene McCormick Sanchez contributed to this report.
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