Rolling anti-ICE rallies set to occur on President Trump’s birthday coincide with an outpouring of anger about mass deportations. At least one of those rallies is being bankrolled by a taxpayer-funded union with an interest in undermining them.
The AFL-CIO, which is the largest federation of unions in the U.S., is the primary sponsor behind the “No Kings” rally set to take place on Saturday, June 14 and will featuring Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as its headliner. Although the left-leaning union is a well-known player in Democratic politics, less appreciated is the flow of federal dollars into its bank account through another entity.
A nongovernmental entity known as the Solidarity Center is a “soft power” diplomatic arm of the federal government, having reported receiving at least $72 million in 2022 and 2023. DataRepublican, who researches the connection between liberal advocacy groups, artificial protests, and the government, was the first to publish the results of his investigation into the NGO’s connection to the AFL-CIO.
A 2022 filing by the union shows an nearly equal amount of funding from the government in 2022: $69 million, compared to just $34 million collected in membership dues, most unions’ primary source of funding. The