Austin, TX – Around 100 people gathered Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Texas Capitol to protest the ICE murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, and Trump’s ongoing campaign of deportations, raids and ICE terror against immigrants across the country.

Jesse Valdelamar, of the Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee, led the rally. He kicked things off with a round of energetic chants such as, “When ICE attacks, we fight back,” and “No more ICE, no more walls, free our families, free them all!”

Sofia Gomez of Austin Students for a Democratic Society told the crowd, “They call other human beings aliens, ICE using children as bait. Shame! Uncle Sam has no conscience. These systems function like they were meant to.”

Gomez continued, “But don’t be discouraged. We have the power to change this. We are the majority. We have air in our lungs, and we have the power to fight!”

Sameeha Risvi, civic engagement coordinator from CAIR Texas, said, “The people showing their faces, chanting in the streets, and demanding justice are not the danger. If we want to talk about rogue, masked agents, let’s talk about ICE. ICE operates in masks. ICE refuses accountability. ICE tears families apart in the shadows, and then calls it law enforcement.”

Risvi told multiple stories of immigrants who have been separated from their families, brutalized, detained, or killed at the hands of ICE agents.

Reflecting back on the George Floyd uprising in 2020, Jesse Valdelamar said, “We cannot let Alex Pretti and Renee Good die in vain. Remember that just six years ago, the people were able to send Trump and his lackeys on the run. We can and will do it again!”

Valdelamar ended off his speech with a call to action, “If you want to make a real impact and change the terrible direction this country is going, then join an organization and build the real movement on the streets!” The crowd responded with a resounding, “¡Sí, se puede!”

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #AIRAC #SDS #CAIR #AlexPretti

The Governor’s argument for persecuting CAIR builds on the legacy of the sham prosecution of the Holy Land 5, which was based in the North Texas city of Richardson, and conflates support for Palestinians with “terrorist activity.”

Groups in Dallas-Fort Worth showed their firm solidarity with CAIR, the co-coordinator of DFW Anti-War Committee (DAWC), Josh Rudd had this to say, “We as DAWC firmly oppose these racist attacks on CAIR by the Abbott regime. We will always stand in solidarity with our Muslim siblings against Islamophobia. We recognize the way the U.S. weaponizes Islamophobia and other forms of racism to continue ‘forever wars’ against Asian and African communities. We are working to shut down the bomb factory, Repkon, in Garland, Texas, that builds the genocidal weapons of U.S. imperialism.”

Greg Abbot and the Texas GOP have repeatedly tried to use Islamophobic sentiment to rally their base, but they have been repeatedly defeated in their attempts. In Republican controlled Tarrant County, the district attorney sought to send Raunaq Alam and Afsheen Khan to prison for decades for pro-Palestine graffiti. They failed in part due to organizations like the National Lawyers Guild, CAIR and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which organized support committees for the targeted individuals.

Other tactics by the state against Muslims include the targeting of the East Plano Islamic Center, which announced plans in March 2024 to build a residential community and mosque in rural Collin County. In that case, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed multiple frivolous lawsuits against the developers and directed state agencies to launch fraudulent investigations into all aspects of the mosque, including directing the Texas Funeral Services Commission to revoke EPIC’s permission to perform burial services.

Texts unearthed in the lawsuit revealed that Kristin Tips, the director of the Texas Funeral Services Commission and an Abbot appointee, was sending anti-Islam media from a pro-Israel media network to her executive director. Notably, these tactics of administrative investigation presaged a similar wave of tactics used by the national Republican party to investigate critics and whistleblowers in the federal workforce, such as the cooperation by the Federal Finance Housing Agency in prosecution of New York Attorney General Letita James.

To date, all of these unjust prosecutions and administrative actions have been defeated in courts. But instead of accepting his losses, Greg Abbot continues with the unjust and likely illegal attacks. In their response to the publicity stunt by the right-wing governor, CAIR touts their record, having defeated Abbot numerous times, including thwarting a 2019 anti-BDS law that led to the firing of a Muslim teacher, his 2024 efforts to ban Palestinian solidarity organizations from campuses, and protecting the rights of individuals with pro-Palestine views to qualify for public employment and contracts.

But the fight is not over. Local organizations, including PYM and the Muslim American Society, have joined the chorus of opposition to Abbot’s anti-Muslim agenda. As Texas continues to serve as a right-wing laboratory for state persecution, all eyes should turn to the organizing that has successfully pushed back this Islamophobic agenda.

#DallasTX #TX #OppressedNationalities #AntiWarMovement #CAIR #ArabAmericans #Palestine #InJusticeSystem #DAWC #PoliticalRepression

San Jose, CA – On Thursday, November 6, dozens of people attended the Santa Clara County Finance and Government Operations Committee (FGOC) meeting in support of an ethical investment policy that would bar the county from investing further into fossil fuel companies.

Signs held by attendees read, “Divest from genocide” and “Divest from fossil fuels.”

At the meeting people spoke to the County Supervisors Susan Ellenberg and Betty Duong, calling on them to forward the Sustainability Commission’s guidance to divest from fossil fuels with a positive recommendation.

Organizations such as Council on American-Islamic Relations San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA), San Jose Against War, Democratic Socialists of America Silicon Valley, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Sierra Club, Climate Reality and more were represented in the public comment section.

Drusie Kasanova of San Jose Against War spoke to the committee saying, “This recommendation is sorely needed because in the past, the county has chosen to invest in Chevron and Exxon, both of which accelerated the climate crisis and profited from the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Wendy Greenfield, a Jewish social activist, advocated for divesting from Chevron saying, “Adopt a policy not to invest in fossil fuels and companies complicit in genocide.”

Greenfield continued saying, “The values of justice and the sanctity of life must be the way of life for citizens and officials that represent us.”

Philip Nguyen, an SEIU 521 steward, spoke to the committee saying, “Please advocate for working families worldwide and not invest in companies that are actively burning away a future that families want to raise their families in.”

After the in-person and online comments were made, the subcommittee unanimously passed the consent calendar item containing the positive recommendation for sustainable investments which would bar the county from investing in fossil fuel companies.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #CAIR #SJAW

Tampa, FL — On July 14, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference in their Tampa office for Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet, a Florida-born Palestinian man that was killed by Israeli settlers on July 11 while on a trip to visit family in the West Bank.

Musallet was only 20 years old when he was beaten by settlers looking to steal his family’s land in the town of Sinjil, while the Israeli occupation forces stopped ambulances and help from coming through.

During the press conference, led by CAIR spokesman Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, the speakers addressed the history of Israel as a history of violations of international law, highlighted by the ongoing genocide in Gaza. A year back, the Department of State had been asked to investigate reports of Palestinian American citizens having their houses burned down by settlers but did not reach any conclusions and allowed Israel to investigate itself.

The family of Musallet along with CAIR is demanding that the Department of State do a full investigation into the situation and properly punish Israel and its settlers for murdering an American citizen.

Present in the press conference was Hesam Musallet, Saif’s uncle, who remembered his nephew, “He was very loving, caring, and – I mean just like any other 20 year old.” He continued, “And then to be taken away the way he was murdered, by illegal Israeli settlers, and then the IDF just stands there and watches, giving them the way to go in there and do what they want.”

Hiba Rahim, CAIR Florida Deputy Executive Director, “This is not an isolated tragedy. There is a devastating pattern of Americans being killed in Israel, brutalized and murdered with impunity by Israeli forces and settlers. Omar Rabea, Shireen Abu Akleh, Omar Assad, Rachel Corrie and now Sayfollah Musallet. None of their killers were held accountable.”

The press conference was followed by a formal letter delivered by CAIR to Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Tampa native herself, and Florida-born Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In it, they demanded that the U.S. government lead its own independent investigation and to hold accountable the Israeli settlers who murdered Sayfollah. They rejected the idea of Israel leading the investigation, as they have a history of protecting settlers and obscuring evidence.

Musallet was a local business owner, running an ice cream shop in Tampa called Ice SSSScreamin, with plans for the future to expand it. He also had plans to form a family and hoped to find a significant other while visiting Palestine. On July 13, his funeral gathered thousands of mourners in the Palestinian town of Al-Mazra'a Ash-Sharqiya.

In Tampa, a rally and march to honor Saif and Muhammad Shalabi, another Palestinian murdered by Israeli forces that day, was held on July 18 by the Dream Defenders and American Muslims for Palestine Florida chapter. The day after, CAIR Florida held a vigil for Sayfollah at the Islamic Community of Tampa, with attendants of multiple faiths coming together along with Saif’s own family to remember him.

#TampaFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #CAIR #SayfollahMusallet

Tampa, Fl – Around 100 people gathered at the Islamic Community of Tampa on Saturday, July 19, to have a vigil for Palestinian martyr Sayfollah Musallet.

Musallet was a 20-year-old Tampa resident and U.S. citizen. He was a well-known community member and owned a local ice cream shop named Ice Sssscreamin. He was visiting family in the occupied West Bank when he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on his family’s land on July 11.

The vigil was organized by the Center for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida. They held prayer and invited elected officials, community members, as well as family and friends of Musallet to speak in remembrance of him. Musallet’s eight-year-old cousin spoke of Sayf being one of many martyrs murdered in Palestine by Israeli settlers, and of their family deserving justice from those responsible.

Tampa City Councilmember Lynn Hurtack also spoke, demanding that the U.S. launch an investigation into the murder of a U.S. citizen on foreign soil.

Speakers urged people to continue organizing for a free Palestine. They demanded that the United States end its funding of Israel’s genocide on Palestine and for an investigation to be launched into the murder of Musallet.

#TampaFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #CAIR

Richfield, MN – Hundreds gathered in Richfield, March 1, for a protest and march to demand an end to the attacks on immigrants and to stand in solidarity with Minnesota immigrant and refugee communities. People showed their strong support through loud chants and a march to city hall. 

Speakers denounced Trump’s attacks on immigrants and promises that deportations will increase. The Department of Homeland Security reports that they have arrested over 20,000 undocumented immigrants since Trump took office, nearly half of who are reported to have no criminal record. Trump is using mass detention and deportation to terrorize immigrants, families and communities. 

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) with endorsements from many local immigrant rights groups including Minnesota Immigrant Movement (MIM), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) MN, and Asamblea de Derechos Civiles. 

MIRAC member Miguel Hernandez, who grew up in Richfield, thanked the local immigrant community, stating that immigrants “built up Richfield when businesses were closing 20 years ago. You can’t go one mile without running into some type of immigrant business.”

The group ended in front of several immigrant-owned businesses. Organizers spoke to the negative impact the administration has had on local businesses, encouraging protesters to buy from immigrant-owned restaurants and shops to keep the community thriving even under the racist threats of the Trump administration. 

MIRAC will continue mobilizing in the streets to fight against attacks on immigrants in Minnesota, including on May 1, to celebrate International Workers Day. More information to come on that protest and more will be on all social media platforms under the username MIRACMN.

#RichfieldMN #MIRACMN #MIRAC #Immigration #NoMoreDeportations #NiUnaMas #CAIR #Refugee #Trump #ImmigrantRights

Orlando, FL – On June 15, Orlando for Peace, with the support of civic organizations around Central Florida, created a Memorial for the Children of Gaza on the steps of Orlando City Hall. The event, held the day before Father’s Day, was to remember and mourn the over 15,000 Palestinian children murdered by Israel.

Protesters continue pushing for the city of Orlando and elected officials, including Congressman Darren Soto and President Biden, to support a ceasefire now and end U.S. complicity in and funding of the genocide of Palestinians.

“The genocide of children committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine is an attack on all of our children. Every child deserves to grow up and have the opportunity to see their dreams come to fruition,” said Lamia Moukaddam, an organizer with Central Florida Queers for Palestine.

“The killing of Palestinian children has been the Israeli modus operandi since 1948,” explained Cassia Laham, an organizer with the Orlando district of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Braving thunderstorms, over 40 people, including families and children of many nationalities, gathered at the steps of Orlando City Hall, listened to speeches, and read out the names of the thousands of children murdered by Israel.

“Black and brown and queer folks must stand up for our siblings and comrades being harmed by the same systems that aim to harm us,” said Kleoptra Blck, an organizer with All Black Evrrrthang. A child led the crowd chanting, “Free, free Palestine!''

The organizations that cosponsored the Orlando for Peace event were Central Florida Queers for Palestine, Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Orlando, All Black Errrythang, Amnesty International Orlando, Healing our Homeland, CAIR Florida, and Partners for Palestine.

#OrlandoFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #FRSO #CAIR

St. Paul, MN – On Friday, May 17, a crowd gathered outside the annual GOP Lincoln Reagan Dinner to protest the attendance of former U.S. President Donald Trump, sending the messages to defend reproductive rights, no to a Muslim ban, and of legalization for all.

Trump is known for his reactionary politics that impact working-class people. During his presidential tenure, the Trump administration enacted 472 administrative changes to dismantle and reconstruct the U.S. immigration system, increasing barriers to legal immigration and diminishing humanitarian protections. A prominent campaign point during his 2016 presidential nomination was to build a border wall along the U.S./Mexico border, while perpetuating racist rhetoric about immigrants as “drug dealers, criminals and rapists”.

Manuel Pascual, a member of Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), spoke to the crowd about Trump’s dehumanization of immigrant communities, stating, “He promotes hate and violence against immigrants every chance he gets. We saw what happened during his first presidential term. We witnessed racists come out of hiding to brutalize immigrant communities all over the United States.”

MIRAC has been fighting for legalization for all, an end to immigration raids and deportations, an end to all anti-immigrant laws, and full equality in all areas of life. MIRAC is currently working on passing the North Star Act, a Minnesota bill that would prevent local police from enforcing immigration laws.

Trump’s reactionary immigration policies have also extended towards Muslim communities, further feeding into Islamophobia. In 2017 Trump issued a Muslim travel ban, which blocked refugees and travelers with passports from seven Muslim-majority countries. The executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), Jaylani Hussein, spoke about the impacts Trump has had on the Muslim community within Minnesota.

Speakers throughout the protest highlighted the interconnected fights between the different struggles.

Alé Guzman Huaman, an organizer with Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC), stated, “I was a junior in high school, and after his election I remember the sense of deep, deep dread, fear and hopelessness. What is going to happen to my family? What is going to happen to my bodily autonomy?”

The Trump administration and the Republican party have campaigned around restricting abortion access for decades. During his presidential term, Trump put forward three Supreme Court justices with conservative political leanings, the last being Amy Coney Barret, who was instrumental in the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

MNAAC was formed in direct response to this Supreme Court case. Since then, MNAAC has been campaigning around crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which are fake abortion clinics funded by right-wing Christian evangelical organizations.

Jeff Giering, another organizer with MNAAC, told the crowd, “I believe the rights to life, to personal liberty, and to reproductive choice are under attack by Republicans nationwide. They are under attack by Donald Trump.''

Giering continued on to pinpoint the connections between the Republican and Democratic parties, noting capitalism as breeding grounds for creating opportunistic politicians who only value human life as long as it’s profitable.

Manuel Pascual stated, “Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has pushed the Biden administration to further punish and endanger migrants seeking refuge in the United States. Let’s be clear- Biden is not our friend!”

Organizers faced some opposition from pro-Trump counter-protesters standing across the street. The counter-protesters yelled chants such as “Trump 2024” and simply repeating “U.S.A”, though their chants were thoroughly drowned out by the crowd starting chants such as “Sexist, racist, anti-gay! Donald Trump, go away!”

This collaborative action was coordinated by members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

These groups are continuing the fight against Trump and his agenda as they’ll be joining the March on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15.

You can follow their work on social media:

• MNAAC: Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook at @MN_AAC.
• MIRAC: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @MIRACMN
• CAIR: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @CAIRMN

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAC #MNAAC #CAIR #Trump #MNGOP #LincolnReaganDinner

Minneapolis, MN – Amidst a frigid Saturday afternoon on January 20, over 750 Twin Cities pro-Palestine residents came out in the blistering cold to the Hennepin County Government Center to tell the Minneapolis City Council that their constituents demand they vote yes on a ceasefire resolution.

This week, on January 23 and 25, the Minneapolis City Council will be discussing and voting on a resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire of Israeli aggression against the civilians in Gaza.

In the last 105 days, over 25,000 people have been killed by Israel, the vast majority civilians, of which 10,000 have been children, and it is believed there are over 7000 people still trapped under rubble unable to be excavated and presumed dead.

The upcoming resolution also demands that the U.S. end its arming and funding of Israel. The funding averages around $4 billion every year, and the vast majority of military weaponry is being used against the civilians in Gaza.

The Anti-War Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, the Council on American Islamic Relations and Jewish Voice for Peace have called on their supporters to call and email their council members. Despite this, some city council members are still on the fence; one council member even publicly stated that passing such a resolution should not be a priority when there are more local issues that need to be addressed.

The Free Palestine Coalition initiated the protest to send a message of support for the resolution going into the vote next week. Sana Wazwaz from American Muslims for Palestine, Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg from Jewish Voice for Peace, Memo Perez from Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Natalie Rath from Students for a Democratic Society at the U of MN, President Max Vast from AFSCME 3800, and Osman Ahmed from the Council on American Islamic Relations all spoke at the rally to address to how different communities in Minneapolis all want the city council to vote for the ceasefire resolution.

Kelly Thomas, of Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar Clark, spoke to the importance of the Palestinian cause to the Black lives matter movement, “Some city council members have been recorded saying that we should focus on local issues that we can control. This is a local issue, and this strong resolution is exactly how we can stop our tax dollars from bombing Gaza. But they want us to sit down and be silent. We will never be silent, and we will not look away. These are some of the same city council members who promised the nation that they would defund the police after Geroge Floyd was murdered, just to vote for increased police budgets, while pointing the fingers at their constituents. And how many more Black, brown and indigenous people have been murdered by the police since then? We say no more. Ceasefire now! No more U.S. aid to Israel. No more of our tax dollars funding genocide.”

Meredith Aby of the MN Anti-War Committee closed the rally with, “Every day that passes without a ceasefire, Israel murders 160 children. That's one child every nine minutes. We are over 100 days into the genocide and the death toll keeps rising. Minneapolis needs to join cities like Atlanta, Seattle, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland and even Hastings in passing a ceasefire resolution.

“We, the people of Minneapolis, want this passed. The attacks on Palestine are a local issue when the U.S. and the state of Minnesota are funding these massacres. We have the right – I would argue the responsibility – to demand that our tax dollars not be spent killing Palestinians. This is a local issue because our city includes Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims for whom it’s very personal and very real. People in Minneapolis are concerned about their families. To think this is a ‘foreign’ issue is to ignore the diversity of Minneapolis.

“Passing this ceasefire resolution would be a historic win for our movement. Our resolution, if passed, would be the first one in the country to say that the U.S. should end aid to Israel. While other cities have taken a stand against the violence, they haven’t addressed the role the U.S. is playing in sponsoring this genocide.

“If Minneapolis passes this resolution, we can take it to Saint Paul and to other cities. If Minneapolis passes this resolution, the Biden administration will have to acknowledge that they are losing their base because they are supporting genocide. If Minneapolis passes this resolution, we continue our work to stand up for justice!”

The rally was initiated by the Free Palestine Coalition, a grassroots coalition comprised of over 15 local organizations who fight for social justice, anti-war, climate justice and human rights causes.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #MNAWC #AMP #CityCouncil #CAIR #JVP #SDS #TCC4J

St. Paul, MN – 10,000 people marched on the Minnesota State Capitol, November 11, in the first march organized by the newly formed Free Palestine Coalition. Protesters gathered at Cathedral Hill Park and then marched to the State Capitol in a march titled “All out for Gaza.”

Organizers called for 10,000 Minnesotans to come to represent the death toll that was recently reached in Gaza and the crowd filled with Palestinian flags represented this total in both protesters and in the flags with names of the dead on the capitol lawn.

Organizers chose the State Capitol as the end of the protest because they wanted to highlight the role the State Board of Investment plays in investing public dollars into Israeli companies and bonds and in weapons manufacturers which are profiting from the crisis. Additionally, Governor Tim Walz has stoked the ire of the Palestine solidarity movement for his one-sided expression of empathy for only Israeli victims of the war.

Meredith Aby, an organizer with the MN Anti-War Committee and the Free Palestine Coalition, “The UN secretary general said this week that ‘Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children.’ It is critical to demand an end to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Last weekend many Minnesotans traveled to DC to be a part of the historic march for Palestine. But going to DC is not enough. We need to keep up the pressure here at home so that the Minnesota congressional delegation and the governor understand that we expect them to take a stand against genocide!”

The protest had speakers from American Muslims for Palestine MN, Students for Justice in Palestine, and CAIR MN.

“Minnesota has for more than 100 years maligned and demonized Dakota patriots who resisted their genocide in this place,” said Melanie Yazzie of the Red Nation to the thousands of protesters at the state capitol. “Palestinians resist the same colonial system that native people have been resisting for five centuries.”

Yazzie continued, “The relationship between the United States and Israel is so intertwined that the colonial tactics of both nations must be understood as not just parallel, but as mirror images of each other.”

#StPaulMN #Palestine #MNAWC #CAIR #SJP #AMP

According to a statement from protest organizers, “We will march to condemn the Trump administration’s menacing threats to deport millions more people, when millions have already been deported in the past decade. We will march to stand against the continued separation of families and corralling of asylum-seeking families and of children into sickening concentration camps at the border. We march against the anti-Muslim bigotry of the Trump administration and the Muslim Ban which continues to unjustly separate families from several majority-Muslim countries. We march to say no more!”

Mari Hernandez of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) states, “The Trump administration continues to separate families and to operate concentration camps for children and asylum-seeking families. This is a moral catastrophe. We demand that asylum seekers be let in and that the camps be shut down now.”

A year ago, on June 26, 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a five to four decision in the case of Hawaii v. Trump, allowing the Muslim Ban to remain permanently in place. This protest also serves as a reminder that the Muslim Ban continues to separate families, leaving U.S. citizens unable to see their children, spouses, or parents and preventing many people from seeking or continuing career and educational opportunities or life-saving care in the U.S. because of this racist ban.

The protest is being organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Minnesota).

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #MIRAc #CAIR

Minneapolis, MN – On June 26, over 600 protesters rallied at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis and then marched through downtown to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Trump’s Muslim ban. The rally was organized by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) as an emergency response to the Court’s 5-4 decision in Trump v. Hawaii.

Since being elected, President Trump has tried to implement his Muslim ban three times. Each time, thousands of Minnesotans have taken to the streets and to the airport to call Trump out on his attempt to put anti-Muslim bigotry into law.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-MN, started off the protest. “I am here today on land stolen from Native Americans. I am standing here today with still the fear, the anger, all the emotions that we have felt this week – in North Minneapolis with Thurman Blevins loss. I am here today with the same horrific feeling that we saw on the border of this nation when children were removed from their parents and put into child prisons. I am here today in solidarity with all of the struggles and know that many of us are reminded of this every single day. So, what I want to tell you today is they have come for the Muslims but they are coming for everybody. The Supreme Court today was wrong, and we have to say that!”

Speaker Tracy Molm, a member of the Anti-War Committee, explained the connection between Trump’s immigration policy and his foreign policy, “It is immoral for the Court to not see this ban for what it is – justification for a racist federal policy that attacks people from countries that the U.S. is bombing or threatening to bomb. We need to demand not only an end to the Muslim ban but to demand an end to U.S. drone strikes and special forces operations in Somalia, to an end to intervention in Syria, to war threats on North Korea and Iran and to threats to topple the government of Venezuela. Trump’s racist Muslim ban is directly related to his policy of expanding U.S. warfare and threats in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.”

Mohamud Mohamed, an organizer with the Young Muslims Collective, gave an impassioned speech: “If legality is a measure for morality for you then you’re doing it wrong. If every time we tell you that these things are eating at the heart of our community and are tearing us apart and you say ‘Well the state legislature passed it...I don’t know what to say’ or ‘your state rep or the mayor said it was ok’ or ‘Andrew Luger said it was moral’ ...legality can never be a measure of what is moral because we have seen what that does to our country. We’ve seen policies that have pursued that we have known for a fact are unethical and fly in the face of what it means to be human. And the only thing evil needs is the silence of good people.”

Other speakers at the rally included U.S. Representative Keith Ellison; the civil rights director from CAIR Amir Malik; Gordon Nakagawa from the Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League; State Representative Ilhan Omar; Samantha Sanchez from the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee; Rachel English from Jewish Community Action; Sarah Brenes from Advocates from Human Rights, and Leilah Issa from the Palestinian Youth Movement.

Significance of the Court’s ruling

Jaylani Hussein explained the significance of the Court’s decision at a press conference earlier in the day, “This impacts almost the entire Muslim community in Minnesota. The majority of the Muslim community in Minnesota, about 60 to70%, comes from Somalia. There are many who have family members that had already been granted the opportunity to come here who cannot come now. And we are concerned now that this administration will add other Muslim countries to this ban. There are countries that have been leaked that they are interested in adding.” He went on, “After the first bans we got calls from Muslims who are U.S. citizens that are not from countries on the seven-country list, which shows the impact the Muslim ban has had on the entire Muslim community.”

John Keller, executive director at the Immigrant Law Center, concurred, “Just Sunday, President Trump explained his preference that anyone arriving on the southern border should be deprived of access to a court and deprived access to due process. These are elements of a similar policy that represents intolerance and I believe it represents a clear and present threat to our democracy.”

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #AntiWarCommittee #CAIR #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

Saint Paul, MN – On June 8, over 50 people protested at a busy street corner in Saint Paul, supporting the mass demonstrations in Gaza which have exposed the viciousness of occupation and siege under Israel.

Called by Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Middle East Committee, and the Anti-War Committee, the protest was quickly endorsed by other community organizations including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR MN), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP-MN), and the MN BDS community. This protest, and others like it across the world, were in response to the call by Palestinians (specifically the National Committee for the Return and Breaking-the-Siege Marches) for international solidarity actions supporting the heroic Palestinian people’s struggle against Israeli occupation.

Mary Beaudoin of WAMM said, “The Israeli government views its periodic mass killings of Palestinians, ‘mowing the grass.’” Beaudoin further stated that the people of Gaza faced two choices, “to die slowly one at a time, trapped and imprisoned under siege in a small strip of land where the infrastructure has been destroyed, or to protest, letting the world know of their suffering.”

The #GreatReturnMarch rallies in Gaza that began March 30. The June 8 violence by Israel resulted in the killing of four more unarmed Palestinians and over 600 wounded. Since the Great Return March began, 125 unarmed Palestinians have been killed and over 13,000 wounded. Israel’s rampage has resulted in a worldwide outpouring of support for the Palestinian people. This could be seen in the overwhelming support of passersby – both on foot and in traffic – at the protest on Snelling and Summit Avenues. One bike rider making several passes, leading the “Viva, viva, Palestina!” chant.

The U.S. governments gives over $10 million a day in foreign aid to Israel. This foreign aid is 20% of Israel’s military budget and is one of the primary supports that allows Israel to continue the murderous occupation of the Palestinian people and their homeland.

The U.S. government’s support for the occupation is generating resistance. As the Anti-War Committee’s Meredith Aby-Keirstead stated, “Public opinion, within the U.S. and internationally, is growing against U.S. support for Israel. Despite the U.S. efforts to provide diplomatic cover for Israel's recent massacres of Palestinians protesting for the right of return in Gaza, people are speaking out against the Israeli military. And the Palestinians aren't backing down. Our job is keep up this pressure so that we can end the $10 million a day the U.S. government pays Israel, and which funds these massacres.”

At the end of the protest, Aby-Keirstead announced upcoming actions to continue the demand for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. She invited the crowd to an Action Planning meeting on June 11, at the CAIR office in Bethany Lutheran Church, to plan for a Free Palestine Interstate 35W bridge protest action on June 12, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

#SaintPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #AntiWarCommittee #WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness #WAMM #CAIR

San José, CA – On June 10, 1000 people joined a Unity Vigil called by Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), People Acting in Community Together (PACT), and Meet a Muslim. More than 130 religious, community, oppressed nationality and other organizations endorsed the vigil, which was organized on a week’s notice.

The vigil was prompted by the anti-Muslim group Act for America which put out a nationwide call for protests to be held on June 10. Their San Jose event was called just a week ago, and with the local Facebook page being hosted by a self-identified Trump campaigner in Virginia, their turnout was expected to be low. And it was, with the Unity Vigil participants outnumbering the anti-Muslim group by 20 to 1 or more.

One prominent group in the unity vigil were Japanese Americans, who have been turning out to solidarity events for American Muslims in large numbers. The Japanese American community remembers the World War II incarceration of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent, who were rounded up en masse on the West Coast and sent to concentration camps in desolate areas in the interior. Racist discrimination, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership drove the concentration camps for Japanese Americans just as they do today with the rising attacks on American Muslims and anti-Muslim policies by the Trump administration.

The Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) of San Jose brought their banner from a solidarity march with American Muslims in March that said “1942 – 2017: 75 years of resistance. No to islamophobia, no to concentration camps.” Another large group of Japanese Americans from San Francisco and the East Bay, the Nikkei Resisters, brought signs with copies of the 1942 posters ordering Japanese Americans into the camps. Other Japanese Americans at the vigil included members of the Silicon Valley Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the San Jose JACL, the Sequoia JACL, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, the Asian Law Alliance, the Wesley United Methodist Church, and the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple.

#SanJoséCA #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #CAIR #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #ACTForAmerica #JapaneseAmericans #UnityVigil

Los Angeles, CA – The Council on American-Islamic Relations of the Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the FBI on Feb. 22. The lawsuit points out that the FBI sent an undercover agent, Craig Monteilh, to infiltrate local mosques in Southern California, to promote acts of violence and spy on thousands on worshippers.

This is another example of how the FBI is targeting and has unleashed repression against the Muslim and Arab communities.

The CAIR and ACLU lawsuit accuses the FBI of targeting Muslims because of their religion, which is a violation of the right to freedom of religion and freedom of association. The undercover agent later fell out with the FBI and is also suing the FBI for unpaid wages.

#LosAngelesCA #FBI #Muslims #CAIR #ACLU #PoliticalRepression