Randi Weingarten showed up outside a federal detention facility this week to call ICE's work "despicable."
But DHS came back with a number she can't explain away.
And DHS just told Randi Weingarten exactly what her anti-ICE rhetoric is doing to officers.
The Number That Changes Everything
Death threats against ICE officers have surged 8,000% – and the agency isn't being subtle about who's responsible.
Not 80%. Not 800%.
Eight thousand percent.
A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital this week that "dangerous rhetoric from politicians and activists demonizing our brave ICE officers has led to the over 8,000% increase in threats against DHS law enforcement who are heroically performing their congressionally mandated mission."
Those aren't abstract threats.
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A Mexican national in Dallas was arrested for posting TikTok videos offering $10,000 bounties for the murder of ICE agents.
ICE officers' spouses are getting threatening phone calls at home.
Agents are being stalked and doxxed – their personal information distributed online to anyone willing to act on it.
This is the environment Weingarten stepped into on Wednesday when she stood outside Newark's Delaney Hall detention facility and called federal immigration enforcement "despicable."
What She Actually Said and Who She Said It For
Weingarten wasn't there to gather facts.
She was there to film a video.
Standing within view of the facility, she told the camera that detainees "have not committed any crimes" and that conditions inside are "unimaginable."
DHS called both claims false.
"Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities is false," the agency said flatly.
DHS went further – pointing out that detention is entirely optional for illegal aliens who choose to comply: "Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now."
Three thousand dollars and a free flight home.
That's the offer Weingarten drove to Newark to protest.
The Job She Isn't Doing
Weingarten has led the American Federation of Teachers since 2008.
Under her leadership, reading scores dropped to 1992 levels.
Just 35% of high school seniors are proficient in reading.
Twenty-two percent – barely one in five – are proficient in math.
Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research confirmed in May that reading scores were down in 83% of school districts compared to a decade ago, and math scores were down in 70%.
That's the job she's supposed to be doing.
Instead, she's driving to Newark to film anti-ICE content – after previously calling for a boycott of Target over the retailer's response to ICE operations.
School-choice advocate Corey DeAngelis put it plainly: AFT "wants to dictate corporate policy on immigration while its own members' students struggle with basic skills."
And there's a financial reason Weingarten keeps showing up at immigration fights.
DeAngelis noted that illegal immigrants enrolled in public schools generate taxpayer-funded per-pupil spending that flows back through the system to unions like AFT.
Every illegal immigrant in a public school classroom is money in Weingarten's budget.
This Is What the Left Calls Advocacy
The pattern isn't complicated.
Activist politicians and union bosses spend months calling ICE work "despicable" and comparing federal agents to the Gestapo.
That language spreads.
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Someone decides it justifies action.
An agent's wife gets a threatening phone call.
His address ends up online.
DHS put the 8,000% figure on the record because they want America to see the direct line between the rhetoric and the violence.
Weingarten calling ICE's work "despicable" isn't free speech in a vacuum – it's fuel in a fire that's already burning.
And while officers face murder bounties, she's worried about the departure conditions for people who broke the law to get here.
That's not advocacy.
That's choosing a side.
Sources:
- Charles Creitz, "DHS unloads on teachers union boss over 'dangerous rhetoric' and anti-ICE activism," Fox News, October 7, 2026.
- Elizabeth Pritchett, "DHS warns of 'unprecedented violence' as death threats against ICE officers soar 8,000%," Fox News, November 2025.
- Bethany Blankley, "Death Threats Against ICE Officers Up by 8,000%, DHS Says," The Daily Signal, November 2, 2025.
- Catherine Salgado, "As Student Scores Plummet, Teachers' Union Head Rants Against Trump," PJ Media, May 17, 2026.
- Corey DeAngelis, "AFT wants to dictate corporate policy on immigration while its own members' students struggle with basic skills," Heritage Foundation, 2026.