Austin rallies against police collaboration with ICE
Austin, TX – Around 30 people rallied at Austin City Hall Saturday afternoon, March 21, against the Austin Police Department (APD) collaboration with ICE.
Jesse Valdelamar of La Frontera Unida, the group that organized the rally, said that the city of Austin canceled its contract last June with the company Flock Safety. This came after community pressure over the presence of Flock surveillance cameras, which ICE has used to obtain data on immigrants.
La Frontera Unida is a member organization of the Legalization For All Network. Valdelamar explained, “The demand ‘Legalization for All’ offers real, permanent relief for immigrants. Unlike the incomplete demand of ‘abolish ICE,’ ‘legalization for all’ would integrate the undocumented into the labor force, make it easier for immigrants to form labor unions, protect immigrants irrespective of nationality against the threat of deportation, and it will never expire.”
Michael Luxemburg, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Austin, spoke about the role of the APD in protecting the rich and their property.stating, “Those same guardians of capital are welcoming” ICE into the city. “They’re doing it behind our backs using Flock information from other cities. And they’re doing it openly, collaborating in the streets.”
Paul Vonder Haar of Hands Off Central Texas said, “We don’t want another dime to go to ICE.” He continued to say we need to “make it so that when they come, they will have the fight of their lives.”
Jake Holtzman of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “At the same time, as we continue to fight against Trump’s agenda of mass deportations, we also recognize that Trump represents the system of monopoly capitalism. This whole system of capitalism must be overthrown and replaced by a system made by and for working and oppressed people. And that system is socialism!”
The Off Hand Brass Band played songs of protest, such as Which Side Are You On, between speeches and as the rally came to a close.