News and Views from the People's Struggle
St. Louis Park, MN – Dozens of immigrant rights supporters gathered to protest on March 5 in the inner-ring suburb of Saint Louis Park outside Hardcoat Inc., an aluminum finishing business. Last week immigration officials swarmed the Hardcoat building at West Lake Street and Taft Avenue and detained seven immigrant workers.
Minneapolis, MN – More than 100 community members packed into a South Minneapolis church for a three-hour training on January 4, and then another 100 people on February 8, to prepare to resist incoming President Trump's attacks on immigrants.
The Immigration Raid Response Trainings were organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), a grassroots immigrant rights organization that's been fighting against deportations and for legalization for all since 2006.
Minneapolis, MN – With only a month left before Donald Trump becomes president, immigrant rights activists in the Legalization for All Network are demanding that President Biden do all he can to protect immigrants before leaving office.
Despite overall gains, capitalists killed two important bills for basic workers’ rights, and the legislature failed to advance police accountability
Saint Paul, MN – The 2023 Minnesota legislative session ended on May 22, and it’s one for the history books. A wide array of progressive measures that working class and oppressed peoples’ movements in Minnesota have demanded for years and even decades became law, as the Republicans howled from the sidelines but didn’t have the votes to stop it.
San Diego, CA – On April 2, part of the Legalization for All Network’s border delegation spent the day in San Diego, the city on the U.S. side of the border across from Tijuana, México.
San Diego, CA – On April 2, part of the Legalization for All Network’s border delegation spent the day in San Diego, the city on the U.S. side of the border across from Tijuana, México.
Win the result of 20 years of struggle
Saint Paul, MN – Despite a snowstorm of historic proportions, hundreds of immigrants and supporters packed the State Capitol February 21 as the Senate debated Senate File 27, the Drivers Licenses for All bill which would allow Minnesotans to get a driver's license regardless of immigration status. After more than six hours of debating hostile Republican amendments, the Senate voted to pass the bill around 2:00 a.m. on a party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against.
Saint Paul, MN – Hundreds of immigrants and supporters rallied in the State Capitol for five hours outside the House of Representatives chamber January 30. They were demanding the House pass House File 4, the Drivers License for All bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get a drivers license in Minnesota again, as they were able to before 2003 when then-Governor Pawlenty took away that right.
Minneapolis, MN – Over 100 immigrants and supporters gathered at the Waite House Community Center on Saturday, January 21 to hear from grassroots leaders in the struggle to win drivers license access for all, and from elected officials that are advancing the bill in the state legislature. The event was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Movement (MIM), a grassroots organization that’s been fighting for drivers license equality in Minnesota for many years. The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) was also present and spoke at the event.
Defeat for far right in Brazil increases challenges for U.S. imperialism in the Americas
On October 30, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, defeated Jair Bolsonaro, the far right-wing incumbent president of Brazil, to win Brazil’s presidency. The election was a runoff after no candidate won 50% of the votes in the first round of the election earlier in October.
St. Paul, MN – On July 5, organizers from several local immigrant rights organizations held a press conference on Saint Paul’s West Side to remember the 53 migrants who tragically died in San Antonio, Texas, suffocated in a truck container. After the press conference, the community members went to Senator Tina Smith’s nearby office, where they read the names of the 53 Mexican and Central American migrants and pressed an aide to the senator on the urgency to take action now to end the policies of border militarization and exclusion that make deaths in the borderlands a common occurrence.
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Minneapolis, MN – On March 12 a car caravan brought honks of solidarity to Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) negotiating committee members while they were in talks with the school district administration at the Davis Center after a week of being on strike.
A year ago police in Minneapolis murdered George Floyd, provoking mass protests and a rebellion. Here are a few photos from the first days of protests and from the rebellion in Minneapolis. Photos by Brad Sigal.
March ends by joining vigil for Yadhira Romero Martinez
Minneapolis, MN – On April 24, protesters took the streets for the second time here to demand justice for Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old Mexican-American boy who was shot to death by a Chicago Police Department officer while he had his hands up. The video footage of the murder was recently released, sparking a wave of protests in Chicago and around the country.
Saint Paul, MN – On March 20, around 60 people protested outside the Whipple Federal Building, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to demand an end to the war on immigrants. The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) to mark two months since President Biden was inaugurated.
2020 was quite a year with huge upsurges of struggle. And when there's an upsurge, you can bet it will be accompanied by protest music. This year has been no exception.
Photos from the historic George Floyd uprising in Minneapolis in late May 2020.
Diego Armando Maradona died November 25. One of the most universally known people in the world, Maradona passed away at age 60 while recovering from surgery.
Saint Paul, MN – At the State Board of Investments (SBI) meeting on August 26, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) member Mari Mansfield spoke out, demanding that Minnesota divest its funds from the border militarization corporation Elbit Systems.
Minneapolis, MN – On July 18, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis to demand justice for women lost to state violence. Organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the protest focused on Vanessa Guillen and Breonna Taylor. The dual focus on Vanessa Guillen, who was Latina, and Breonna Taylor, who was Black, aimed to build unity between Black and Latino communities as well as other communities in the struggle for justice.
