National teachers’ union hosts anti-Trump webinar covering illegal immigration, ‘true history’ of U.S. ‘land grabs’

The National Education Association has prepared its members for President Donald Trump’s second term by discussing how to protect immigrants and consulting the ACLU.

Videos of the NEA Webinar, hosted on Wednesday, were obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE).

The webinar began with the transgender student director of the Washington Education Association, Caitlin Ehlers, giving a land acknowledgement.

“We begin by acknowledging that we meet on the traditional lands of many indigenous peoples,” Ehlers said. “We honor this land’s first people and all their elders, past, present and emerging. And we are called on to learn and share what we learn about the tribal history, culture and contributions that have been suppressed in telling the story of America. 

“Settler colonialism is an ongoing system, and the treaties that govern this country are still broken and unfulfilled. Our president-elect is threatening to annex Kalaallit Nunaat, aka Greenland, and his coalition is directly responsible for land grabs and eco-savage from the Great Plains to the Amazon. 

“To make sense of this moment, each of us has to know where we are. Whose land are you on? Where do you stand in settler colonialism? And what are you going to do about it?”  

Next, the NEA discussed with left-wing writer Jennifer Berkshire how conservatives oppose “true history,” which includes the teaching of racial and social justice.  

Berkshire referenced specific education reforms such as banning sexually explicit books, “extremist” candidates for school boards, and bringing the Bible back to public schools, calling the reforms a “circus” meant to distract Americans from conservatives’ real goal to “privatize and dismantle schools.” 

She also decried how the Trump administration may affect illegal immigrants, and encouraged educators to bargain for counseling and housing services for such students.  

“You all already know about bargaining for the common good,” Berkshire said. “Well, in a lot of places, the ‘common’ in that common good includes a lot of immigrant students.”  

“Bargaining for the common good” is a Marxist philosophy in which unions view themselves as bargaining for the good of not only teachers, but all members of their “community.”  

In places such as Chicago, this leads to unions bargaining for items that have nothing to do with teachers, such as:  

• Converting underutilized spaces into dormitories, shower and laundry facilities for unaccompanied youth;  

• Allowing public schools buildings to be used as temporary housing for families, requiring the additional hiring of night-time custodial staff and social service providers;   

• Implementing a fleet of 100% electric buses;   

• Launching a pilot program to make five schools carbon neutral by 2035;   

• And designating a day to help voting-age students register and cast their votes.  

The last to speak in NEA’s webinar was Chelsie Acosta, a middle-school teacher in Salt Lake City who is a committee member of NEA SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) and works with the ACLU’s Utah affiliate.  

Acosta gave her own “land acknowledgement” and discussed how ACLU advocates for leftist positions on topics such as abortion, immigration rights, racial justice and trans and LGBTQ rights. 

She said the ACLU fears Trump’s second term “will be worse than the first,” but is ready to fight him.   

She showed webinar attendees a number of resources, with titles including:  

• “Stop The Trump Administration: No Mass Deportations”  

• “Defend Trans Freedom”  

• “We Will Not Tolerate An Attack On Our Reproductive Rights”  

• “Shut Down The ICE Detention Machine”  

• “Stop Project 2025”  

• “Protect Trans Care Now”  

• “Tell The Courts: Protect Medication Abortion Now”  

“We were born for this moment,” Acosta said. “We have truly been working for 105 years to defend civil liberties and to help our most marginalized communities, and we are ready to roll.”