Jacksonville, FL – In the past year, over 50,000 refugee children have fled from Central American countries and crossed the U.S. border. While many have been released to their families and other caregivers, thousands remain locked up in mass detention centers. Much of the media coverage carries the familiar anti-immigrant slant, blaming the parents and even the children for imagining the U.S. to have pro-immigration policies. This tendency to blame immigrants parallels the longstanding trend of blaming formerly colonized countries for internal violence, and it omits the role of U.S. and European colonialism and imperialism in originating it. It erases the history of Central America and it distorts the nature of mass migration.

Tallahassee, FL – Students achieved a victory late last week when the Florida Senate passed tuition equity. On May Day, 2014, the Florida Senate passed House Bill 851 mandating tuition waivers for undocumented students at public universities. Presently, Florida’s undocumented students pay out-of-state tuition, three times the in-state tuition rate. After attending and graduating from Florida high schools, many are denied equal access to higher education by the out-of-state tuition rate.

Gainesville, FL – On March 18, University of Florida Students for Justice in Palestine, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) filled a room with about two dozen students and community members to celebrate International Women's Day. They hosted an educational panel titled, “Celebrating Women's Solidarity and Palestinian Activism,” which addressed the history of the holiday, the Palestinian women’s movement, and the trumped-up immigration charges against Palestinian women's rights activist Rasmea Odeh.

Gainesville, FL – On Oct. 8, about three dozen Gainesville activists held a rally to protest the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Florida (UF), Occupy Gainesville and Gainesville Veterans for Peace gave a round of speeches in Turlington Plaza, demanding the withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan and the end of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and other parts of the Middle East.

Gainesville, FL – On Sept. 25, over a dozen Gainesville and Tallahassee activists packed the room during a University of Florida (UF) Student Senate meeting. The Dream Defenders were there to support a non-binding referendum calling for a name change of the Reitz Student Union. Students will have a chance to reject the current building’s name, which commemorates known racist and homophobe John Wayne Reitz, in favor of one that commemorates Virgil Hawkins. Hawkins was a Black civil rights leader who gained renown for his successful desegregation campaigns at Florida university campuses.