Social media users are accusing an Illinois middle school teacher of suggesting in a TikTok video that he would teach his students anti–United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) views if they asked for his opinion.
Joe Park, who goes by @theasianeducator on TikTok, is a gifted middle school language arts teacher for Waukegan Public Schools in Waukegan, Ill. Park has nearly 33,000 TikTok followers and regularly posts short, humorous videos about his time in the classroom. However, his TikTok page is quickly gaining newfound attention for a clip he posted on Jan. 24 amid the ongoing anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Los Angeles, and other major cities.
Although Park noted that teachers are “supposed” to be apolitical, he rhetorically asked what he, as an educator, should do if a student comes to him with questions about what was happening in Minnesota.
“I know I’m gonna be a lot of cleansing breaths before I answer that,” Park said.
Meet Joseph Park, a teacher at @WaukeganSchools. He suggests he will teach his students that ICE are m*rderers and doing the wrong thing by arresting foreign criminals.
Would you want this person teaching your kids?
His school is tagged so they will see you responses pic.twitter.com/NBldV5il31
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 15, 2026
“But I know that I’m gonna do my darndest to educate my students to be critical thinkers,” Park continued. “To understand what is right and wrong, and to hopefully have these students … be the light in this world. This is maddening, this is crazy. I am sad, I’m angry.”
Libs of TikTok shared Park’s video on X, and that post had nearly 700,000 views as of Monday afternoon. Park had not responded to an Inquisitr News message seeking comment at publication.
Park also referred to the Department of Homeland Security–involved deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti as “murders” and “tragedies.” The Department of Homeland Security has argued that Good, who was shot in her car on Jan. 7, intended to strike an ICE agent with her vehicle and commit an act of domestic terrorism. Video footage shows Good putting her car into drive while one agent stood directly in front of the vehicle, and another had his arm inside the driver’s side.
Pretti, an ICU nurse, was shot Jan. 24 during a struggle with Border Patrol agents. The two federal officers who shot Pretti have since been placed on leave. Although media outlets have named the officers, this outlet is withholding their identities for privacy and safety reasons.
I taught in the same district as him. When I opposed renaming Thomas Jefferson Middle School, he didn’t make a case — he asked if my administrators knew my views and reminded me I’m white. https://t.co/K6orP25kIg
— Frank McCormick (@CBHeresy) February 15, 2026
Several X users called for Park’s dismissal, though others defended his right to free speech. It is worth noting that at no point in the video does Park specifically name ICE, nor does he reference anyone in a political position, such as President Donald Trump or DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
To Park’s credit, that is a marked departure from other educators who have gone viral in recent weeks, ranging from those who have held anti-ICE protests in classrooms to a California teacher who called conservative educators “pathetic and selfish” in a video.
“His job is not to push a crazed political ideology,” one reply nonetheless read.
“Critical thinking demands that he give them the facts on both sides and lets them come to their own decisions,” another X user argued. “If he really does that we couldn’t ask for more.”
