Every staff member at Peoria Public Schools in Illinois has been handed union-branded cards on documenting federal immigration agents, according to a single anonymous source cited by Libs of TikTok.
According to Gateway Pundit, the controversy surfaced after Libs of TikTok published an image of the cards on Thursday, alleging a coordinated effort inside the school system to undermine federal immigration law, a claim that has not been independently confirmed. The account wrote, A source tells me that all staff members at Peoria Public Schools in Illinois received these anti-ICE cards instructing them on how to dox ICE agents and assist illegal aliens, and tagged DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, urging her to investigate the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) immediately.
The post, which concluded ominously, Just imagine what theyre indoctrinating your kids with, quickly drew attention from parents and immigration-enforcement supporters concerned about politicized activism in taxpayer-funded classrooms. Neither Dhillon nor the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division had publicly responded to the post by Thursday evening, leaving open whether the Justice Department will act on the complaint.
The cards themselves are labeled Guidelines for Bystanders: Documenting Federal Agent Activity and prominently display the Illinois Federation of Teachers logo, underscoring that this is not a fringe activist handout but a union-backed initiative. One side uses the lefts SALUTE acronym to instruct staff to record the size (number of agents), activity (including violence, physical force, property damage, or hate speech), location, unit details such as names, badges, and uniforms, the time and date, and equipment including weapons, vehicles, and license plates.
A QR code on the card directs users to scan and transmit their recordings and notes to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the IFT, which critics say effectively creates a pipeline of intelligence on federal officers for activist organizations. They argue that such guidance crosses a line from passive observation into organized surveillance of law enforcement, raising serious concerns about harassment, doxxing, and the chilling of legitimate immigration enforcement.
On the reverse side, the card asserts that bystanders have the right to record federal agent encounters so long as they do not interfere with officers duties, and it encourages staff to remind detained individuals of constitutional protections. It states that bystanders may advise a person of the right to a judicial warrant, the right to remain silent, and the right to an attorney, language that, while rooted in legal norms, is being deployed here in a context that appears designed to frustrate federal immigration operations.
The card even scripts a specific line for staff to use with agents: Im exercising my constitutional right to document. Im not interfering. It further lists a series of refusals staff may make, including refusing a request to stop recording, to search or delete the recording without a judges warrant, or to unlock a phone or provide a passcode, guidance critics say trains school employees to treat ICE agents as adversaries rather than public servants.
This union-driven effort is layered on top of an existing district policy that already takes an adversarial stance toward immigration enforcement. Peoria Public Schools has maintained a Safe Haven resolution since 2017 that directs the district to refuse access to immigration officials seeking to enforce immigration laws except under certain unique and specified circumstances required by law, a posture that many conservatives see as local government nullification of federal authority.
In January 2025, after the Trump administration ended the prior policy limiting ICE activity at sensitive locations, then-Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat sent a letter reaffirming the districts stance. She asserted that the district has a legal duty to educate all children regardless of immigration status and that employees would direct any immigration officials to a designated safety director, effectively insulating classrooms and campuses from direct contact with federal agents.
Local media have documented the ripple effects of this climate of fear and activism. A local news station reported increased absences among students whose primary language isnt English, noting that The district also discussed purchasing Spanish language online courses to provide alternatives for concerned families, a move that appears to normalize long-term avoidance of in-person schooling whenever immigration enforcement is rumored nearby.
Earlier this year, students at Richwoods High School staged a walkout in protest of ICE activity, signaling that the districts political posture is filtering down to teenagers. Board candidates have also debated the issue at public forums, turning what should be a straightforward mission of education into yet another front in the national battle over illegal immigration and the rule of law.
The broader community response has included efforts to materially support those potentially facing deportation. A Thursday report from 25 News Now described local leaders, including a Peoria School Board member, organizing a donation drive for families amid confirmed ICE presence in the area, with at least 10 people detained according to the Immigration Project, underscoring how deeply activist networks are embedded in local institutions.
Meanwhile, Peoria Public Schools has not responded to confirm or deny whether it distributed the cards to all staff as of Thursday night, leaving parents and taxpayers in the dark about the extent of union influence inside their schools. As federal immigration enforcement continues to collide with progressive sanctuary-style policies at the local level, the unanswered question is whether public education in places like Peoria is being repurposed into a political shield for illegal immigration rather than a neutral institution focused on teaching children.
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