Feds Subpoena Teacher Union for Info on Pro-Palestine Students

The Trump administration quietly broadened its crackdown on campus pro-Palestine protests over the summer, moving to ensnare one of the largest unions in the country in a case revolving around alleged incidents of vandalism.

The national headquarters of the American Federation of Teachers, or AFT, received a grand jury subpoena in August as part of an ongoing federal investigation into protests at the University of Michigan. Twelve pro-Palestine activists have been charged with felonies in the case.

The subpoena against the AFT, which has not been previously reported and was obtained by The Intercept, shows the administration casting a wider net in its investigation into student protesters than was previously known.

“They’re using this language around conspiracy and trying to draw in all of these different organizations.”

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, or GEO, an AFT local at the university, also received a notice to provide information and testimony to a grand jury around the same time, according to a copy of the previously unreported subpoena obtained by The Intercept.

The effort to draw a powerful, liberal union into a case that revolves around spray-painting charges represents a dramatic escalation in Donald Trump’s war on the left.

“They’re using this language around conspiracy and trying to draw in all of these different organizations that are taking stances against fascism, against the government, and anything that’s counter to their ideology,” said Natalie Chen, who serves as GEO’s communications director. “This is perhaps another ‘in’ for them to broaden their attack

on labor.”

Subpoenas to Crush Dissent

As pro-Palestine protests swept campuses across the country in 2024 and widespread demonstration broke out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this year, the Trump administration has sought to paint left-of-center protest, nonprofit work, and labor organizing as a nefarious far-left conspiracy, even labeling some activists and groups as terrorists.

Critics of the administration’s crackdown on Palestine solidarity and protests against ICE see moves like the ones against AFT and GEO as part of an effort to silence dissent.

“Historically, federal grand jury subpoenas have been used against social movements and political dissent to gather information, to isolate individuals, and of course to try and prosecute people,” said Xavier de Janon, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild. “What is different in politicized cases is the extent of people and places that get subpoenaed, which many people see clearly goes way beyond what they’re supposedly trying to prosecute.”

Activists at the University of Michigan said the effort to extract information about students from the union was an attempt to further target pro-Palestine protesters and their relationships with labor organizers.

“What is different in politicized cases is the extent of people and places that get subpoenaed.”

The grand jury subpoenas came as part of a case that has seen a dozen protesters become caught up in serious federal charges against the students, dubbed “the Michigan 12.” They allege that protesters committed illegal acts like vandalism as part of a pressure campaign seeking to push university officials to divest school holdings tied to the Israeli genocide in Palestine.

The subpoenas against the GEO and AFT were requested by federal prosecutor Margaret Smith with assistance from FBI agent Kara Phipps — two federal officials deeply enmeshed in the investigation into the Michigan 12. (The Department of Justice declined to comment for this story.)

GEO Under Fire

The subpoenas were issued as the GEO was already reeling after its president, Hiab Teshome, was charged with felony embezzlement by local prosecutors working in conjunction with the University of Michigan Police Department.

Authorities alleged that Teshome, who was a bargaining team member in the middle of intense contract negotiations between the union and the school, misused organizational funds to purchase laptops for a campus club.

In a statement, the GEO called the charges meritless and characterized them as an attempt to limit protected union activity. Teshome was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the university’s student government, and the charges against her were thrown out by a judge.

Federal prosecutors issued the subpoenas the same day the charges against Teshome were dismissed, leaving activists little time to regroup.

Although GEO is not mentioned in the federal indictment against protesters, the AFT chapter is a prominent member of the Tahrir coalition, a pro-Palestine student collective that is referenced repeatedly in federal filings and characterized by prosecutors as having ties with defendants.

Broad in Scope

The scope of the information requested of the unions by the federal government is broad. GEO and AFT are being compelled, according to the subpoenas, to surrender information including complete membership rolls, payroll records on officers, reimbursement policies, audit reports, and all transcribed minutes on membership and executive board meetings of the University of Michigan local since January 2023.

The American Federation of Teachers has more than 1.7 million members and more than 3,000 local chapters.

After receiving the subpoena, GEO immediately obtained attorneys and filed a motion to quash the order. The national office of the AFT, however, has not publicly acknowledged receiving the directive or stated whether it intends to comply. (AFT did not respond to requests for comment about the subpoenas, including whether the union would be complying.)

Teshome, the GEO president, believes that the subpoena against the AFT may be an attempt by the federal government to circumvent the local union and force the national organization to comply.

“GEO has taken the stance that we will do everything in our power to protect the data and the information of our membership,” Teshome said. “I think that this is a strategy that the federal government is using in order to try to actually receive the information that they are trying to get by usurping us as a local union and going instead to AFT national.”

Additionally, Teshome likened the GEO’s case to similar surveillance activities conducted by federal agents against trade unionists in Minnesota as part of the Trump White House’s National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, a presidential directive that attempts to criminalize leftist political organizations.

“All of the repression we are seeing across the country is the federal government’s attack on anyone who has political thought,” Teshome said. “Michigan is no different than all of these other cases in that we are one of the testing grounds for NSPM-7 and how much oppression can be applied through the federal government in order to demobilize and disorganize.”