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According to the union, Target should be required to post signage forcing ICE agents to show warrants before entering stores. The post accused Target of “allowing harm” to workers by not posting such signs and claimed the company was bowing to pressure from the Trump administration after scaling back DEI initiatives.
The response online was swift and brutal.
Many commenters questioned why a teachers union was harassing retail employees instead of addressing catastrophic academic outcomes inside Chicago Public Schools.
Teacher Freedom Alliance voiced what many parents were already thinking. The union appears far more interested in politics than explaining why so many children are failing to learn basic skills.
Erika Donalds of the America First Policy Institute did not mince words, saying the union’s actions reveal its real priorities. Education comes second. Ideology comes first.
Nicole Neily of Defending Education was even more direct, calling the incident “union thugs bullying hourly employees who are just trying to earn a paycheck.”
Academic Collapse Continues Across Chicago
While union leaders organize protests, student performance continues to sink.
In 2025, only 43 percent of Chicago students in grades three through eight were proficient in reading. Math proficiency was a disastrous 27 percent.
High school outcomes are just as bleak. Among 11th graders, only 40 percent were reading proficiently, and just 25 percent met math benchmarks on the ACT.
These numbers come after Illinois lowered academic standards in 2025, making the results even more damning. Even with easier tests, most students still failed.
Chronic absenteeism stands at 40.1 percent, meaning nearly two out of five students miss at least 10 percent of the school year.
Earlier this month, even the Washington Post criticized the union’s obsession with social justice causes while academic performance continues to collapse.
The union’s own New Year’s messaging focused on political activism. Its stated goals included “speak truth to power” and defending communities “targeted by federal agents” while fighting back against the Department of Education.
The Post asked the question parents are already asking. How do lofty political missions help children who cannot read or write?
Teachers Unions Pour Millions Into Politics
Chicago’s situation is not unique. It reflects a national trend among teachers unions.
The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country, used its most recent convention to attack President Trump rather than discuss classroom instruction. NEA passed resolutions supporting immigration enforcement resistance and shielding teachers who promote controversial curriculum.
More than $200,000 was set aside to distribute materials helping teachers avoid disciplinary action.
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten went a step further, announcing a partnership with the World Economic Forum to help develop curriculum.
Meanwhile, political spending continues to soar.
Since 2022, the NEA and AFT have sent more than $43 million to left-wing advocacy groups. During the 2024 election cycle alone, an AFT political action committee raised over $13 million, with 98 percent going to Democratic candidates.
A Union That No Longer Teaches
Chicago Public Schools enrollment declined every year from 2011 through 2022. The pandemic exposed how little instruction was happening during remote learning, accelerating distrust among parents.
What happened inside that Target store was not an accident. It was a snapshot of the union’s priorities.
Friday afternoons are for protests and viral videos. Monday mornings are for classrooms where two-thirds of students cannot read.
The union leadership appears unconcerned with functional illiteracy as long as students are steeped in the “correct” political worldview.
This is not a failure of the system. It is the design.
Teachers unions no longer operate as advocates for education. They function as political machines, using classrooms as recruiting grounds and children as leverage.
The Target protest made that impossible to ignore.
