(The Lion) — The heads of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions are aligning with rioters and encouraging more protests against U.S. immigration enforcement, but their motivations come down to preserving language teacher jobs and padding their wallets, one expert says.

Speaking on Houston’s KTRH morning show, Dr. Corey DeAngelis said the reason union leaders Becky Pringle and Randi Weingarten care so much about illegal immigration is because it pads their bottom line.

“Schools actually receive more money for English language learner students in a lot of states,” he said. “And by the way, if you need to hire more people for specialized services to be able to interpret and to teach in a different language as well, that means you have more staff.

“You have more staff, that means more dues-paying union members. That benefits people like Randi Weingarten at the teachers’ union.”

Weingarten, who is head of American Federation of Teachers, is helping organize protests scheduled for Saturday in cities across the U.S. DeAngelis reported she rallied supporters during a recent conference call.

“They called for a ‘national day of defiance,’” he said. “They told people to ‘rise up’ in solidarity with the protestors in Los Angeles. So they want to amplify what’s happening in Los Angeles. … They have over a thousand of these protests scheduled all across the country.”

Riots in Los Angeles began late last week following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempts to detain illegal immigrants for possible deportation. Multiple businesses have been looted, vehicles burned and millions of dollars’ worth of property damaged.

President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard and a Marine unit to help restore order in the Democrat-led city. LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, have strongly criticized Trump’s actions.

“I think they should call it off after what’s happening in Los Angeles,” DeAngelis said of the June 14 “No Kings” protest, which is organized by far-left, well-funded anti-Trump groups. “They should try to simmer things down. But it’s just really weird how you have the teachers’ union boss of all things” calling for more protests.

“I mean, imagine, if she fought this hard to improve the school system, we might actually have better test scores,” he added.

Flag Day, Army celebration also planned for Saturday

The protests coincide with a celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday in Washington, D.C., which also marks Flag Day and Trump’s birthday, although his staff says the event was planned before his return to office.

In addition to wanting money to hire more teachers, DeAngelis accused the unions of acting as “an extension of the Democrat Party.”

“They want disruption, they want chaos. They have Trump derangement syndrome,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of their campaign contributions go to Democrats each year, to a money laundering operation.”

Show host Jimmy Barrett noted that 25% of Texas public school children are children of illegal immigrants, citing a recent report.

DeAngelis responded that lower enrollment means less state funding. “So if you lose kids, if you have fewer illegal immigrants there, you’re going to lose money. So this directly affects the bottom line of the teachers’ union.”

A key Supreme Court case

He also referenced a 1982 Supreme Court decision that requires states to educate the children of illegal immigrants. DeAngelis argued that with today’s court makeup, the outcome of the 5-4 case could be different and suggested that Texas or another red state pass a law to challenge the precedent.

With a majority of Americans agreeing with Trump’s stance on immigration enforcement, DeAngelis said it’s time for teachers’ unions to stop playing politics. Still, he doubts that will happen.

“They are so drunk on power, they’re never going to reverse course,” he said. “And you know, they stepped on a rake before (in 2020), they’re stepping on a rake right now. And if I were the teachers’ union boss, I would stay clear and focus on the basics, do what I’m hired to do.

“They got into this, a lot of them, a lot of the leadership at least, to be political animals. They’re fighting a political, a spiritual battle of sorts.

“Because one, they really believe that they own your kids, and two, they want to use your kids to shape the direction of this country. And they want to use their political power to do the same thing, so you can see that right now.”