Charleston, SC – As immigration enforcement intensifies across South Carolina, the Charleston chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO) has launched rapid-response “Barrio Walks”, with volunteers canvassing apartment complexes and neighborhoods being targeted by ICE.

Working in coordination with the Charleston Immigrant Community Hotline, CSO identifies areas seeing significant ICE activity and mobilizes quickly to distribute whistle kits to residents. Each kit contains know-your-rights cards, a zine with planning resources, trusted local legal contacts, tips for identifying ICE, and a whistle which can be used to alert neighbors when ICE is present in the area.

“People are being pulled out of their homes, taken to detention centers, and families are left scrambling,” said CSO organizer Lucía Peña. “When neighbors know their rights, have the right resources, and can warn each other, that's how we defend our communities. We keep us safe.”

The urgency is grounded in real numbers. Nearly one-third of all South Carolina immigration arrests in 2025 occurred in Charleston County, according to ICE. That surge is driven in part by the expansion of 287(g) agreements – arrangements that authorize local and state law enforcement to perform immigration enforcement tasks in coordination with ICE, including executing immigration warrants and flagging individuals in custody for transfer to ICE detention centers.

Detainees are frequently transferred to facilities out of state, compounding the chaos for families trying to locate loved ones and secure legal representation. The resulting fear has had a chilling effect on daily life for immigrants in an area known as the Lowcountry. Community members are missing work, pulling their children from school, and avoiding critical medical appointments rather than risk an encounter with ICE.

CSO's Barrio Walks aim to cut through that fear with direct, neighbor-to-neighbor outreach offering both practical tools and a reminder that their community stands with them and families do not have to face these fears in isolation.

#CharlestonSC #SC #ImmigrantRights #CSO #Featured

Charleston, SC – On Wednesday, May 13, organizers with the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), a South Carolina branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), gathered in support of members of the family of Walter Scott against the early release of former North Charleston Police Department Michael Slager.

In 2016, Slager pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violations and was sentenced to 20 years in prison; this was after a South Carolina grand jury indicted him on a state murder charge, which ended in a mistrial. For many who have lost loved ones to police brutality, the outcome of the federal trial felt like a rare instance of justice.

Yet, nearly ten years after the sentencing, the Scott family says they recently received news from the Department of Justice (DOJ), that Slager’s sentence has been reduced through the First Step Act (FSA), a federal law aimed at reforming federal sentencing laws and lowering the federal inmate population. It allows eligible inmates to earn time credits for early release.

Inmates convicted of murder are typically ineligible for early release under FSA, but because Slager was charged with a federal civil rights offense – deprivation of a person’s rights under color of law as protected by the constitution – not murder, it appears he has been quietly shaving time off his sentence since 2020.

LAC co-founder Erica Veal, who has been working closely with the Scotts since 2025, said, “This is a clear misuse of prison reform law to allow a killer cop to skirt responsibility.” She went on to say, “The Lowcountry Action Committee and the National Alliance will push back every step of the way against Slager’s release. This is not justice and the Scotts deserve better.”

Since Walter Scott’s murder, his brothers Anthony and Rodney have become a voice for victims of police brutality. Anthony attended his first NAARPR Conference in Chicago, Illinois in November 2025 along with his wife Denise, who spoke on behalf of the family during the plenary session for Families of the Movement. Little did they know that, in April 2026, while planning the eleven-year Angelversary for Walter, they would receive news of the changes to Slager’s sentencing. Devastated by the news, the Scott family called on local organizers to help launch a campaign against Slager’s release.

At the press conference, Rodney said, “This news is deeply disturbing to our family, considering the pain and senseless killing made to our brother.” He went on to say, “We are standing here at the Four Corners of Law [a Charleston landmark] today demanding that justice be served and upheld for my brother Walter Scott.”

LAC member Matt Colburn said, “This is clear evidence of a two-tier justice system. Trust and believe, if the roles had been reversed, Walter Scott wouldn't be eligible for early release.”

LAC and NAARPR plan to launch a coordinated call-in to the Bureau of Prisons to demand the rescission of Slager’s early release. In the meantime, the Scott family is asking for the community to support their campaign by signing a petition and sending impact statements to the DOJ.

#CharlestonSC #SC #InJusticeSystem

Ladson, SC – The Elbit Out of South Carolina (EOSC), a coalition of local grassroots groups, held a press conference on Tuesday, March 24, outside Elmec, Inc.’s office to announce Elmec as a new campaign target alongside their current target, Israeli based weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. Elmec, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, is an international defense company specializing in aerospace manufacturing.

Elbit Systems is a privately owned Israeli weapons contractor that provides 80% of Israel’s ground equipment and 85% of its drones. Its Ladson based “Ground Combat Vehicle Assembly and Integration Center of Excellence” was constructed with several tax incentives granted by Charleston County, including a Set Aside Grant and a Fee In Lieu of Taxation (FILOT) agreement.

The press conference highlighted Elmec’s relationship to Elbit, the company’s role in profiting from war and genocide, and the material cost of their presence to community members in the Lowcountry.

The event began with a satirical speech from a stand-in Elmec executive to welcome the crowd to company’s grand opening, who said, “At the end of the day, do we really want Charleston focusing its investments on the needs of working people, spending money at Saint Andrews School of Math and Science or C.E. Williams or Burke, wasting its funds on handouts to working-class nobodies, instead of expanding business opportunities in mass surveillance and hospital destruction for the titans of industry?”

The press conference featured speakers from EOSC’s coalition organizations, Free Palestine Charleston, Charleston Democratic Socialists of America, Lowcountry Action Committee, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization Charleston District.

Autumn Waddell of Free Palestine Charleston stated, “Right here in Charleston we have the opportunity to make a real difference. Elmec and Elbit are our access to international politics. We decided to stand up and fight for the parents in Charleston County who want to send their kids to good, well-funded schools, and for the parents in Gaza who want to know their children will come from school at the end of each day.”

Chris Tittle of Tri-County Tenants Union remarked on the connections between tenants in America and tenants in Palestine, stating, “From Charleston to Palestine, tenants are exploited by the arms and AI economy. Elbit and Elmec use the same AI systems in their weapons that corporate landlords like Cushman and Wakefield use to artificially and illegally inflate the rent. And local politicians are happy to call this ‘economic development,’ we call it economic warfare on the working class.”

The press conference was followed by a mock ribbon cutting ceremony for Elmec, and a car caravan from the Elmec facility to the nearby Elbit Systems facility, which culminated in a picket. Elbit Out of SC and community members have picketed Elbit Systems weekly since October of 2024 and worked to raise public awareness of the weapons manufacturer since spring 2024.

“It was important to end the press conference with our weekly picket at Elbit because it not only shows how physically close these two facilities are, but it gives people an opportunity to do more than talk about the issues affecting workers in Charleston and Palestine and actually take action against war crimes and genocide in Palestine,” said Alfred Peeler, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization Charleston District.

#CharlestonSC #SC #LadsonSC #AntiWarMovement #Elbit #Palestine

Charleston, SC – Upwards of 50 people gathered at Elbit Systems of America’s facility in Ladson, South Carolina, on Sunday March 15 to join the Anti-War Action Network’s day of action demanding no United States war on Iran.

A dozen local organizations united with the Elbit Out of South Carolina (EOSC) coalition to protest President Trump’s ongoing assault on Iran.

Nate Hubler, a member of EOSC representing the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), said that the decision to hold the protest at Elbit was purposeful: “It can feel like American forever wars are thousands of miles away, so it's always important to draw the connection to companies like Elbit, who are profiting from this unjust war on Iran and the ongoing genocide in Gaza while simultaneously defunding our county’s public school system.”

The crowd chanted, marched in front of the facility’s entrance, and held signs speaking out against the war and Elbit’s presence in South Carolina along the busy Palmetto Commerce Parkway. The Elbit facility in Ladson is one of eleven Israeli-owned weapons manufacturers around the country.

Speakers from the organizing groups spoke throughout the afternoon and related the devastating U.S. and Israeli backed war to their own local organizing work, though they often had to pause while passing vehicles drowned them out with supportive honks.

Joel Milliken, a member of the South Carolina Tenants Union, spoke to the crowd, “Our taxes are paying for the bombs being dropped on schools and hospitals in Iran and the subsequent double tap strikes on aid workers searching for survivors in the rubble. Meanwhile, tenants are going to be forced between paying $5 a gallon for gas to get to work and paying their rent.”

Students were also out in force at the rally and spoke out against the attacks on Iranian schools.

“Cry for humanity – for the life and youth foolishly wasted by the right-extremists of this administration, claiming that they wage such aggression in our name,” remarked Sasha Bozanic, National Representative for the College of Charleston Students for a Democratic Society. “Were 170 schoolgirls massacred in our name? Are the Army, Navy and Marines being sent to assail a civilian population in our name? How many must suffer and die before we learn that a blow to one family is a blow to us all?”

“Working-class people here know they have more in common with the working class of Iran than they do the billionaires, imperialists and war-profiteers that are starting this war,” remarked Alfred Peeler, a member of the Charleston District of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “They know what’s actually needed to materially improve their lives and together, we can build a very real form of political power in the Lowcountry.”

The protest ended with organizers urging the crowd to only continue to show up to future rallies and events, but to speak out against the United States and Israeli war of aggression and to get involved with the groups present.

“We are going to win, but we need everyone to find a way to get involved in the work and we’re more than happy to help them get connected to the right organization,” said protest organizer Gillian Bergeron.

#CharlestonSC #SC #AntiWarMovement #Iran

Charleston, SC – Over 500 people gathered at Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina on January 25 for an emergency protest after ICE shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis the day before.

“This is the third time this month that we’ve had to organize an emergency protest,” Erica Veal, of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Lowcountry Action Committee, remarked. “The violence of the Trump administration doesn’t let up but every time we rally together, more people show up and want to get involved. Their actions will be their downfall.”

The emergency protest was organized by a newly formed the District of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Lowcountry Action Committee, the Charleston Community Service