News and Views from the People's Struggle
Detroit, MI – Over 5000 people rallied in Clark Park, June 14, for the national No Kings day of action to declare a “Day Without Immigrants.” Clark Park resides in the historic Southwest area of Detroit, which is known for its strong Mexican-American community.
Chicanos, Mexicanos, Centroamericanos y los aliados en todo Los Ángeles están levantándose contra los agentes de los ataques a los inmigrantes de Trump. La gente de LA tiene el derecho a la rebeldía contra ICE y las deportaciones. Hemos sido activos en las calles de LA y nacionalmente en el movimiento para hacer retroceder la agenda de Trump.
Orlando, FL – On Saturday, June 14, at least 6000 rallied outside of Orlando City Hall as part of the No Kings national day of action; several crowds spilled out into the surrounding streets. They rallied behind the slogan “We the people are pissed!” with a clear emphasis from protesters being placed on the ongoing campaign of raids being conducted by ICE, the continued repression and disenfranchisement of the LGBTQ community and women, as well as acting in direct opposition to the Trump administration itself.
Jacksonville, FL – On June 14, an estimated 4000 protesters transformed downtown Jacksonville into a sea of resistance against the Trump administration's escalating attacks on immigrants, free speech and essential government services. The “No Kings Day” demonstration marked one of Northeast Florida's largest mobilizations in recent memory, with participants decrying Trump's policies at the federal level and local Trump style anti-immigrant measures being passed at the city council level.
Austin, TX – Around 60 Austin students and community members held a noise demonstration outside the J.J. Pickle Federal Building on Monday evening, June 16, in solidarity with the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Orellana has been released from jail and the NAARPR is working to support his defense.
Statement Demanding the Release of Alejandro Orellana
On June 12th, FBI agents arrested Alejandro Orellana, a member of Centro CSO, a branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression based in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, for providing aid to the community being tear-gassed. Orellana’s arrest comes the same day Senator Alex Padilla was violently assaulted at a Homeland Security press conference. We condemn Orellana’s arrest as a clear example of racist and political repression. After immense community pressure led by the Centro CSO, Orellana was released the following day! The power of the people are driving ICE back and freeing people like Orellano, and it will be the power of the people that get Orellano’s charges dropped!
Peoria, IL – Sunday, June 15, more than 150 residents of Central Illinois took to the intersection of North University and West Main Street, occupying all four corners.
The protest was organized by River City Rainbow Collective and Peoria No Ban No Wall, with attendance from Peoria for Palestine, Workers Strike Back, and 50501. Most attendees were locals, though a few had driven from nearby Bloomington for the demonstration.
Jacksonville, FL — In a city already burdened by police violence, housing injustice and deepening inequality, the Jacksonville City Council voted late Tuesday night to pass Ordinance 2025-0138, a bill that criminalizes compassion and cuts off vital services to undocumented immigrants.
Despite overwhelming opposition from residents, legal experts, and community organizations, the council chose fear and scapegoating over justice.
Hours before the vote on June 10, over 50 demonstrators rallied outside City Hall for a press conference led by the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA), the Florida Immigration Coalition, and a coalition of grassroots groups, including the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network.
With signs raised high and chants echoing through downtown, protesters demanded an end to the city’s attacks on immigrants and a rejection of what they called a “Trump-style stunt” designed to punish children and families.
“Many of you are not leaders – you’re cowards,” one speaker told the council during public comment. “You arrest activists for demanding a free Palestine, you vote to destroy Black neighborhoods, and now you’re copying Trump’s cruelty to terrorize children. Shame on you.”
The ordinance, introduced by Councilmember Rory Diamond, originally sought to ban all city funds from being used to support undocumented residents, including access to health care, domestic violence shelters, legal services, arts and cultural grants and even food programs. It also attacked children through proposed changes to the Kids Hope Alliance.
Though public pressure forced last-minute amendments to exempt children and select services, the core intent of the ordinance remained intact: to enshrine xenophobia into Jacksonville law and send a message of exclusion.
“While Diamond celebrates this cruelty, we see the truth. A desperate politician who had to gut his own bill to scrape together votes. Now these councilmembers own every consequence, children losing meals and tutoring, immigrant families being forced to seek care only at Shands, and crimes going unreported as entire communities are pushed deeper into the shadows,” said organizer Maria Garcia in a post-vote statement.
This betrayal isn’t happening in isolation. Across the country, immigrant communities are rising up against coordinated repression. In Los Angeles, a full-scale rebellion is underway, with thousands taking to the streets after federal raids and the arrest of labor leader David Huerta. Protesters there are confronting the same state violence we see in Jacksonville – policies that target immigrants, silence dissent and criminalize the basic fight for dignity.
“You’d rather jail protesters, deport parents, and let killers with badges walk free than lift a finger for affordable housing or safer streets,” said one organizer at Tuesday’s rally. “Jacksonville is sick of your hypocrisy.”
While the council was passing this ordinance, it continued to ignore a long list of crises: the beating death of Charles Faggart in JSO custody, the city’s skyrocketing housing crisis, and the daily violence faced by Black, immigrant and working-class communities. What it did prioritize was attacking undocumented families.
As the final vote passed late into the night, the gallery erupted in chants of “Shame!” and dozens of residents walked out of council chambers in disgust. Outside, the protest reignited under the streetlights, with organizers laying out the next steps: demand that Mayor Donna Deegan veto this dangerous and reactionary ordinance; organize to vote out every councilmember who backed it; and boycott businesses owned by those who supported it – including Mambo’s Cuban Café, owned by Councilmember Raul Arias Jr.
“Jacksonville sees through this charade,” Garcia said. “We’ll ensure these votes haunt every councilmember who sided with hate over their constituents.”
Denver, CO – On Saturday, June 14, over 30,000 people took to the streets in protest against the Trump administration. The protest was organized by the Colorado Palestine Coalition and was supported by many organizations including the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Aurora Unidos CSO, Denver Anti-War Action, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
Chicago, IL – “Donald Trump said that anyone protesting on his birthday would be met with force. We say to Trump, ‘fuck around and find out,’” said Angel Naranjos, a member of the Immigrant Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) at a June 19 protest held by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine in downtown Chicago.
It was the city’s sixth large protest in seven days, all in resistance to the violence inflicted by the Trump administration in the U.S. and around the world.
Portland, OR – On Thursday, June 12, over 400 people mobilized to the ICE facility in Portland for an emergency rally in solidarity with those protesting ICE raids in Los Angeles, and to demand an end to all deportations. Portland Contra Las Deportaciones organized Portland’s protest.
Tallahassee, FL – On Saturday, June 14, thousands of people gathered at the Florida State Capitol building to show their opposition to the Trump administration. The No Kings protest – which was created by the 50501 movement – has over 1500 cities participating.
Protesters gathered to voice their outrage at the administration’s attacks on democratic rights, at violence against community members, and at the increasingly unchecked power of the president.
New Orleans, LA – On Saturday, June 14, over 5000 New Orleanians took to the streets for a No Kings Day parade protesting Trump’s military parade in DC. Indivisible NOLA hosted the local action, and dozens of organizations joined as “sub-Krewes” along with brass bands and drummers honoring the city’s parade culture.
![Alejandro Orellana with fist raised \[center\] after his release.](https://i.snap.as/wjUD16A4.jpeg "Alejandro Orellana with fist raised [center] after his release. | Photo: Fight Back! News")
Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, June 13, Alejandro Orellana, an immigrant rights activist who was arrested by the FBI, was freed from federal custody.
The previous morning the FBI, with the support of the National Guard and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, raided Orellana’s home in East Los Angeles and arrested Alejandro, a longtime member of Centro CSO, on charges of “conspiracy to commit criminal disorders.”
In a packed courtroom with family, supporters, and Centro CSO members, Orellana stood strong against the ridiculous charges. The U.S. Attorney tried to have the judge order Orellana to stay away from downtown LA but that order was rejected.
Los Angeles, CA – On June 11, over 100 Chicanos gathered at Salazar Park for a news conference and rally to denounce the violent ICE kidnapping of a father of two in Boyle Heights. At 10:15 on the morning of June 11, a vehicle with a mother, father, infant and toddler traveling on Whittier Boulevard was pinned between two ICE vehicles. The father’s vehicle was tear gassed, and the father was kidnapped by agents, leaving the totaled car on Whittier.
Members of Centro CSO, an organization that fights for immigrant rights in Boyle Heights and East LA, were at the scene while the confrontation unfolded and demanded ICE show the warrant and identify themselves – which the agents laughed at and refused. The man is being charged with assault on a federal agent, but DHS has yet to provide evidence.
Seattle, WA – In the early morning hours of June 10, activists and community members gathered at the courtyard of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle in solidarity with the rebellion in LA and against deportations.
The federal building is the site of the area’s immigration court where ICE has been detaining and disappearing people before they can seek legal counsel or contact their loved ones.
Los Angeles, CA — On the morning of June 12, in East Los Angeles, the FBI, National Guard, and LA Sheriff’s Department cornered off the street where immigrant rights activist Alejandro Orellana lives. Neighbors came out of their homes, concerned they were witnessing another ICE raid. FBI agents forcibly entered Orellana’s home, overturned all of his belongings, seized his electronic property, and then escorted Orellana handcuffed into one of their vehicles.
St. Paul, MN – On June 11, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), and the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) held a joint rally at the Lake Street/Marshall Bridge over the Mississippi River to demand an end to Trump’s war on immigrants, and the militarized attacks on Los Angeles residents by local and federal law enforcement.
San José, CA – On June 6, around 100 people came out to Blossom Hill Road in San Jose to protest recent ICE arrests. According to the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, ICE made many arrests during immigration check-ins, causing activists to make an emergency call to action.
Detroit, MI – On June 8, around 80 Detroiters and several community organizations protested Trump’s deployment of the National Guard on the Los Angeles community. Outside of the downtown ICE and Police Department Headquarters, Detroit stood in solidarity with those fighting back against ICE and the National Guard in LA.