For several years, immigrant rights activists have said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is systematically carrying out mass deportations of immigrants who have done nothing wrong, resulting in well over 1 million deportations during the first four years of the Obama administration. This has caused the separation of untold thousands of families and the tearing apart of Chicano and Latino communities around the country – simply to fill arbitrary deportation quotas. ICE officials and the White House denied such allegations. On February 15, 2013, USA Today newspaper broke the story in a front page article based on newly released documents that verify what activists have been saying – that ICE has in fact been intentionally targetting 'low-priority' immigrants for mass deportations, through methods such as mass searches of drivers license databases and checkpoints set up near workplaces and neighborhoods thought to have many immigrant workers. One checkpoint referenced in the USA Today article was near Asheville, NC. Here Fight Back! News has an exclusive interview with Bobby Sullivan, who was stopped repeatedly at a checkpoint near Asheville, North Carolina – likely the same checkpoint referenced in the USA Today article. Woodfin, NC – Bobby Sullivan goes to work every day from his home near Asheville, NC. One day something strange started happening on his way to work: he kept getting stopped at a police checkpoint. What was going on? The police, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had set up an immigration checkpoint on a road near his home.

Milwaukee, WI – Over 50 students and community members rallied Feb. 6 at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) to demand an end to the sale of Palermo’s pizza on campus. The rally was organized by the Coalition to Boycott Palermo’s, which includes Youth Empowered in the Struggle, Students for a Democratic Society, the Alliance of History Graduate Students, the Hmong Student Union and the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association.

San José, CA – On Jan. 29, one day after a group of eight U.S. Senators announced their bipartisan proposal for immigration reform, President Obama made his own proposal. While the President’s proposal was better than the bipartisan Senate proposal in several areas, in particular calling for recognition of same-sex partners of U.S. citizens or legal residents who are seeking legal residency; overall it offered the same approach of harsh treatment of the undocumented and a pro-business approach.

We need legalization for all starting now!

San José, CA – On Monday, January 28, a bipartisan group of eight Senators, four Democrats and four Republicans, announced a framework for “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” or CIR. On Jan. 29, President Obama will be putting out his position, marking the beginning of an effort to “reform” U.S. immigration law this year.

Tampa, FL – Student groups from the Tampa Bay area and neighboring Polk County came together, Jan. 24, to demand answers from Congressman Dennis Ross and protest his anti-immigrant record.

Minneapolis, MN – As the struggle over immigration reform looms in Washington D.C., immigrant rights activists in Minnesota are pressing their senators and representatives to support genuine, progressive immigration reform. Activists are telling lawmakers to not compromise with anti-immigrant politicians, who will try to include repressive measures in immigration reform legislation. On Jan. 16, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) organized a call-in day targeting Senator Al Franken and Representative Keith Ellison. In addition to calling, people also sent messages to the politicians on their websites and tweeted a common message to them.

Minneapolis, MN – On Jan. 12, immigrant rights activists protested outside the Hennepin County jail, demanding that Sheriff Stanek stop using the jail as a deportation machine. More people are deported from the Hennepin County jail than from any other jail in the state.

Tampa, FL – Around midnight Jan. 10, the home of well-known Arizona immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE agents asked Andiola who the other people in the home were. One of them was her mother. During the raid, Erika's brother, who had been staying at neighbors for the night, came over and was asked if he was related to the Andiolas. Both Erika's brother and mother are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and both have lived in the U.S. for many years. Shortly after the questions, ICE handcuffed and transported Erika's brother and mother to the Florence Detention Center.

Tampa, FL – 287(g) is a racist law that was created on Sept. 30, 1996. For 17 years this law has been terrorizing, racially profiling, oppressing and breaking our immigrant families apart. 287(g) gives permission and training to regular police officers to do Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) work whenever ICE is unable to be around. Specifically 287(g) gives permission to local police to ask people in our neighborhoods and on the streets about their immigration status. Since 1996, 287(g) has been responsible for the arrests, abuses and deportations of over 400,000 of our hard-working and exploited immigrants in the U.S.

Kansas City, MO – 600 students and youth attended the United We Dream National Congress here, the weekend of Nov. 30. These young leaders gathered to decide the direction that the immigrant youth movement will take in the wake of the 2012 U.S. elections. United We Dream (UND) is the largest national network of immigrant youth organizations, with 47 affiliates and thousands of members across the country.