The Political Left Has No Business Using Middle Schoolers as Protest Props
By Michael "Mickey" Scornavacco Republican Committeeman, Antioch 6
On Saturday night, February 14, 2026, while attending the annual Lincoln Dinner, I received an anonymous tip that a middle school walkout is being organized in Lake Villa for Thursday, February 19.
Middle school.
Not college radicals. Not voting-age activists. Not adults who pay taxes and understand federal policy.
Children.
And that is where this stops being "activism" and starts being manipulation.
This Is Not About Immigration
You can support ICE. You can oppose ICE. You can debate sanctuary laws until you are blue in the face.
That is adult business.
Dragging 11, 12, 13, and 14 year olds into national political warfare during school hours is not civic education. It is spectacle. It is emotional leverage. It is adults weaponizing youth optics.
There is nothing brave about encouraging children to abandon class for a political narrative.
The Pattern Is Spreading
This is not isolated.
Walkouts have already spread across Lake and McHenry counties. Middle schools have already been pulled into this wave. What started at high schools is now targeting younger students.
Why?
Because younger students are easier to mobilize. Easier to influence. Easier to pressure.
Middle schoolers are still figuring out who they are. They want to belong. They want approval. They do not yet have the life experience to dissect federal enforcement policy.
Yet somehow we are supposed to believe this is grassroots child-led civic brilliance?
No.
This is organized adult activism flowing downhill.
The Risk Nobody Wants to Talk About
Here is the part the organizers never advertise.
Crowds are unpredictable. Emotions escalate. Outside agitators show up. Counter protesters show up. Police get involved.
We have already seen suburban protests escalate into arrests after tensions rose.
Now imagine that scenario with 12 year olds.
If you truly care about children, you do not put them in that environment.
Schools Are Not Political Staging Grounds
School is where children learn reading, math, history, science, discipline, teamwork, and responsibility.
School is not where national political campaigns recruit foot soldiers.
If students want to learn about immigration law, great. Teach it properly.
Explain the Constitution. Explain federal authority. Explain due process. Explain how legislation actually works.
Do it in class. With teachers. With parents informed.
Not through hallway organizing and social media pressure.
Lake County Parents Need to Wake Up
If this walkout happens in Lake Villa on February 19, it will not be because kids spontaneously decided to analyze federal enforcement policy during lunch.
It will be because adults created the environment.
Parents need to ask direct questions:
- Who is organizing this?
- Are teachers involved?
- Is outside political messaging being distributed on campus?
- What is the safety plan?
- Who is accountable if something goes wrong?
Silence is consent.
This Is Bigger Than One Walkout
Today it is ICE. Tomorrow it is something else.
If middle school classrooms become staging grounds for whatever national controversy is trending, then education becomes secondary and activism becomes the curriculum.
That is not what public schools are for.
The Line Must Be Drawn
You want to protest? Do it on Saturday. Do it at a public park. Do it as an adult.
Leave middle schoolers out of it.
Lake County deserves schools focused on education, not mobilization.
Our children deserve protection from adult political warfare.
Enough.
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