On May 1–May Day, the traditional celebration of international socialism and labor radicalism–students in Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Green Bay, and other Wisconsin cities plan to walk out of school, skip work, and march under the banners of a “Day Without Immigrants,” “No Work, No School, No Shopping,” and “Workers Over Billionaires.”
Organizers from Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), the youth arm of Voces de la Frontera (an immigrant-led membership-based organization), are encouraging high school students to join rallies at the Voces office in Milwaukee before marching to the Federal Building. Similar actions are slated for Madison at Library Mall. Toolkits with sample letters to principals are circulating so kids can demand the day off, and buses are scheduled to bring students to participate in the protests in Milwaukee and Madison.
YES says students are “standing with teachers.” They demand a full 2.63% cost-of-living adjustment for Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) members, reversal of job cuts, and more funding for schools. Hardly sounds like an organic grassroots movement organized by students. This echoes the 2011 teachers’ marches against Act 10, Scott Walker’s reforms that curbed collective bargaining excesses for public employees.
A Trojan Horse for a Radical Agenda
On the surface, it sounds like classic student-teacher solidarity. In reality, it’s a Trojan horse for a much more radical agenda: shielding illegal immigration from federal enforcement (including dangerous criminals), opposing local cooperation with ICE, and effectively prioritizing open-border policies and immigrant advocacy over core classroom needs.
YES and Voces are not primarily focused on reading scores, classroom discipline, or basic school safety initiatives. Their walkouts are targeting drivers’ licenses for illegal immigrants, explicit calls for sanctuary city policies nationwide, ICE operations, deportations, and eliminating 287(g) agreements, which are legal partnerships between ICE and Wisconsin county Sheriff’s offices like Kenosha, Waukesha, and 17 others.
These agreements let trained local officers identify criminal illegal immigrants in jails and hand them over for removal. YES and Voces believe 287(g) is a “jail-to-deportation pipeline” that creates fear and racial profiling. Supporters of 287 (g) agreements see it as basic common sense: enforce the law, protect communities, and deter crime.
These students chant “ICE out of schools and communities” and push to abolish cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Meanwhile, Milwaukee-area schools have dealt with chronic absenteeism, learning loss post-COVID, and the mounting challenges of serving large numbers of students from non-English-speaking, low-income households. The most recent absentee data for MPS (2024-25 school year) shows approximately 46.2% of students were chronically absent, missing more than 10% of school days. MPS had 72% four-year on-time graduation rate for the Class of 2025. This is the highest rate for MPS since at least 2009, but significantly lower than the state average.
Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs are not free. Wisconsin reimburses only a fraction of costs through bilingual-bicultural aids–around 8% in recent years, unchanged since 2007 despite growing demand. Districts pay for the rest: specialized teachers, materials, smaller classes, and interpreters. Statewide, this serves approximately 55,000 students, with heavy concentrations in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, and Racine (the same 4 communities where large May Day walkout protests are scheduled).
In Milwaukee, roughly 7,850 students (17.5% of MPS district’s enrollment) are in English Learners programs. These programs require dedicated staffing and pull resources from core instruction. Teacher shortages in bilingual/ESL areas are chronic, and schools divert funds that could go toward classroom resources or pay raises for general educators. Redirecting focus and resources toward protests does little to help those kids master basic algebra or graduate on time.
The driver’s license issue underscores the overarching theme of providing unwarranted benefits to illegal immigrants. Voces has long fought to restore licenses for illegal immigrants while bypassing the REAL ID requirements. They say it would lower insurance costs and improve safety. Conservatives argue it rewards lawbreakers, undermines the rule of law, and gives DMVs a backdoor way to issue documents that can enable further violations.
Grassroots Activism? Hardly
The May Day “Workers Over Billionaires,” the “No Shopping” boycotts, and partnerships with groups pushing to “tax the rich” and defund law enforcement reveals the ideological core function of these protests. This is not a grassroots student-led protest standing with teachers in labor solidarity. It’s the fusion of identity politics, open-borders advocacy, and old-school class warfare. Wisconsin’s working families, both native-born and legalimmigrants alike, deserve secure borders, functioning schools that prioritize education over activism, and local police focused on protecting their communities.
Teachers facing budget pressures have legitimate concerns in several school districts. However, real support for our teachers would include the expansion of school choice, performance-based pay, ensuring curriculum transparency, and a massive reduction in overpaid administrators so more funds can go directly to teachers.
Closing Schools, Harming Kids in the Name of Left-Wing Radicalism
Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) schools will be closed on Friday, May 1. The district announced the closure after Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI), the union representing over 2,500 educators and staff, expects mass staff absence for Teachers plan to march with students and community groups in the national “May Day Strong” / “A Day Without Immigrants” day of action.
It’s reported that about 70% of staff members are signed up to participate, so the district is canceling classes for all students as well as after-school care. MMSD can ill afford this, as it has a significant racial achievement gap. While 76% of white students are proficient (at grade level) in English Language Arts (ELA) and 72% are proficient in math, just 24% of Hispanic students are proficient in ELA and 21% are proficient in math. Only 17% of black students are proficient in ELA and 21% are proficient in math.
These gaps mirror Wisconsin’s numbers statewide, where the state has the widest Black-White achievement gaps in the U.S. on NAEP tests (e.g., Black 4th graders ~45 points lower in reading).
Wisconsin parents should watch closely on May 1 and ask their school boards and principals how many instructional hours will be lost and find out if your local school district is paying to bus the children to a regional protest. They must demand accountability when students are handed petitions in school. True solidarity with teachers and students begins with focusing on actual learning, not radical May Day protests.
