As adopted on 1/25/26 by the MEA-PSA Executive Committee

Members of the MEA Professional Staff Association (MEA-PSA) are called to stand up for students and educators every day, but especially in times of greatest need as we are experiencing right now. The MEA-PSA Executive Committee adopts this statement in a moment when every person of good conscience must take a stand.

We join tens of thousands of public-school employees and state education associations across the country in demanding ICE stay out of our schools and stop brutalizing our communities. We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Minnesota Education Association.

As ICE agents continue to pull people from their homes and cars without warrants, using excessive force – including deadly force – against citizens, legal residents, and undocumented people alike, the children of those communities live in fear. Students of varying ages have been picked up by ICE agents on their way to and from school. Many are afraid to show up; in Minneapolis, schools have shifted to remote learning. In other school districts in the Twin Cities region, huge drops in attendance have been reported. The fear extends to school staff, especially employees of color.

One photo that has captured the world’s attention shows a five-year-old boy wearing a blue knitted hat with bunny ears, held by ICE agents after he arrived home from preschool. The child was sent with his father to an ICE facility in Texas where serious human rights violations have been documented. Both the father and son were living lawfully in the U.S. as asylum applicants going through the legal process for citizenship.

We call on MEA leaders to take a position to publicly advocate against the unconstitutional and violent behavior of ICE agents in Minneapolis and other American cities which is terrorizing our communities, including our children. We call on MEA members to stand with us as we fight for the human and civil rights that are the foundation of our democracy.   

Our union is a family and a support system where we take care of each other. As advocates on the frontline with our members, we hear and share the fear our communities are feeling. There is hope in coming together and protecting one another, our schools, and our neighbors.