Washington, D.C. – On Saturday, October 17, a broad coalition of groups from D.C. and Maryland rallied in front of the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters demanding an end to the racist and political repression by the Trump administration. The action came in the wake of a violent pre-dawn raid on Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s home earlier that week by the Department of Homeland Security, and the targeted surveillance and intimidation of local activists by FBI and Border Patrol agents.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s staff shared a statement in support of the action, “Thank you for the outpouring of support today and over the past week, [Rep. Omar] will not be silenced – she thanks you for having her back, and she will always have yours.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar represents the largest Somali population in the U.S., and has been a stalwart champion for immigrant communities, a powerful opponent of Trump’s mass deportation schemes and a vocal critic against Trump’s Islamophobic and racist policies. The Trump administration’s recent raid on her home is the most recent attack in a racist smear campaign meant to cast unfounded suspicion over her U.S. citizenship and create pretext for her deportation.

“These racist attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar; our comrades being yanked off trains by Border Patrol and terrorized by the FBI, simply for speaking out – these are things that we will never accept!” said Merawi Gerima, an organizer with the DC Alliance Against Political Repression, drawing connections between the raid on Rep. Omar’s home and the escalating political repression of local organizers by the Trump administration.

Currently, Baltimore-based Filipino American organizer Christina Pasion remains detained for her activism for national democracy in the Philippines. Christina Pasion’s wife, Vivian Pasion, drew attention to her wife’s perseverance through the retaliation she was facing for her activism, and added that Christina’s family was also facing unannounced visits and harassment from federal agents.

“We are building a mass movement that is standing up against fascist attacks led by the United States, right here at home and abroad. I am not afraid of the FBI because I know that I have the full force of a mass movement behind me, and it’s only been growing,” a member of the Baltimore Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Gordon Mutch, an organizer with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, had also experienced intimidation and harassment by Customs and Border Patrol. Just weeks before the raid on Rep. Omar, Mutch was traveling to a human rights conference in Toronto by Amtrak train. Near the Canadian border, the train stopped and riders heard the conductor say over the intercom “Ok, please make this quick gentlemen,” moments before armed Border Patrol agents walked directly to Mutch’s seat and grabbed him off the train.

After hours of detention, Mutch’s phone and laptop were seized, and he was forced to find his way from the boarder back to Maryland without a cell phone. He was given no explanation for why he was being targeted, but the timing makes it clear that it was in retaliation for his peace activism, particularly due to his being a vocal advocate for Pasion’s release from administrative detention in the Philippines. His devices have yet to be returned.

“There is active collusion between the U.S. government and the Philippine government in repressing U.S.-based activists standing up against the widespread human rights abuses under the fascist Marcos Jr. regime,” Mutch said.

The attacks on Gordon and Vivian have prompted the creation of a new national anti-repression coalition named Stop the Attacks, whose goal is to unite a broad movement to crush Trump’s repression machine.

Meanwhile, earlier in the same week on October 13, the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform launched a partisan investigation on D.C.-based organizations Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams for holding public jury duty trainings to educate local communities about the racist system of jury selection and the repressive nature of grand jury prosecutions – a particularly salient issue in D.C., where most serious court cases are settled in federal courts due to D.C.’s lack of State’s Attorney’s offices, stemming from its statehood being denied.

As they marched in the streets from the Department of Justice to the White House, protesters chanted, “Stop the raids, stop the attacks! We have Ilhan Omar’s back!” and “Hands off our organizations, stop these racist deportations!” in a show of united force and to demand an end to the Trump administration’s repression of local and national activists alike.

The coalition behind Saturday’s action included the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Stop the Attacks Coalition, International League of People’s Struggle, Code Pink DC, Bayan DMV, ICHRP US, BalCHRP, Asians for Palestine DMV, 50501DC, Metro DSA, Anakbayan DC, FLARE, and Families Not Feds Coalition.

#WashingtonDC #ImmigrantRights #IlhanOmar #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression