Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten to an advisory board despite her organization’s history of alleged improper influence on the Biden administration.

Weingarten was appointed to the Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council, an entity which will provide insights on campus security as well as “targeted violence and terrorism prevention,” alongside nineteen other officials. Mayorkas said in a Wednesday press release that “leaders of our academic institutions and campus life have a great deal to offer in helping us counter the evolving and emerging threats to the homeland.”

The nominations occur after proponents of government schools asserted that the Biden administration should use federal assets to oppose parents concerned about leftist indoctrination. The National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden two years ago calling actions from the parents “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

The appointment also comes despite accusations that the American Federation of Teachers, which frequently contributes to Democratic campaigns and endorsed President Joe Biden in the 2020 and 2024 election cycles, has improperly shaped federal policy under the Biden administration. Emails show that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered school reopening guidelines at the request of the American Federation of Teachers, causing delays in the end of lockdowns in government schools across the nation.

Weingarten herself was a leading voice in the charge to keep schools closed, even as two-thirds of her union’s teachers said in the summer of 2020 that they preferred to teach in person at least part-time while maintaining extra health precautions, according to a report from The Guardian. The union official nevertheless called now-former President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos “reckless” and “cruel” for their support of reopening government schools for traditional instruction.

“It’s as if Trump and DeVos want to create chaos and want to jeopardize reopening,” Weingarten said in an interview with the outlet.

Weingarten was active on social media throughout the summer of 2020, reposting articles in favor of continued lockdowns and criticizing Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis for his efforts to open the state’s businesses and schools. She also praised Democratic officials for keeping schools closed.

Weingarten meanwhile supported a plan from now-former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo to aggressively test all students at public universities in the fall of 2020.

She then lauded United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew for saying in the fall of 2020 that opening eighty government schools would place all of New York City “at risk.”

DeSantis hinted on Thursday that he would take action to remove Weingarten from the Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council if he is elected president in 2024.

“She really led the effort to force schools to close,” DeSantis said. “They responded by suing us to try to lock kids out of school. They wanted a court to rule that we could not allow kids to be in school in person. Had we gone down that direction, there would have been devastating impacts to our youth.”

Weingarten responded to DeSantis’ comments on Thursday by contending that the presidential hopeful is “trying to silence those he dislikes.”