Allendale, MI – On January 29, Grand Valley State University's Progressive Student Union (PSU) led a speak-out against the new Trump administration. People held signs relating to healthcare, immigration, LGBTQ rights and other causes. The mood was casual, and people joined the students in protest throughout the event.
San Ysidro, CA – U.S. Border Patrol agents fired tear gas and rubber bullets into Mexico in response to a march organized by refugees, including many women and children, seeking asylum. The march had remained peaceful until Mexican authorities forced the refugees marching into a canal separating San Diego and Tijuana, according to the American Friends Service Committee. It was then that Border Patrol agents fired tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets into the crowd. One young girl is reportedly in critical condition after being “struck with tear gas” according to the Movimiento Cosecha. The world's busiest border crossing was subsequently closed on both sides.
San Jose, CA – “Coast to coast – the Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns President Trump’s plan to issue an executive order against birthright citizenship,” said Masao Suzuki, chair of the FRSO Joint Nationalities Commission. Suzuki said that proposed executive order would be the most infamous presidential order since President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of over 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in concentrations camps during World War II.
Kenosha, WI – Protesters rallied outside the Kenosha County Detention Center, July 7. Dozens came together to demand the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a show of solidarity with the detainees held in the center. Demonstrators hoped to raise local awareness of the impact that the federal agency has on Wisconsin’s immigrant communities, including the threats of detention and deportation.
Tampa, FL – Over 1500 community members gathered, June 30, in downtown Tampa to protest the Trump administration's policy of separating undocumented children from their parents. This protest was part of a day of action called under the slogan of ‘Families Belong Together.’ This day of action follows the discovery that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been keeping undocumented children in cages in detention centers and forcibly separated from their parents. The protest advocated for the abolition of ICE, the reunion of these families, and the end of deportations.
¡Lucha y Resiste! está circulando este artículo por Elías Jaua Milano, el Ministro de Poder Popular para la Educación de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, sobre la crisis de la frontera entre los EEUU y México.
Fight Back! is circulating an essay by Elías Jaua, the People's Power Minister for Education of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, on the current crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border caused by the Trump administration's ‘zero-tolerance’ policy towards migrating families. The article was posted in Spanish and translated to English by Fight Back! staff.
Fight Back! is circulating an essay by Elías Jaua, the People's Power Minister for Education of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, on the current crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border caused by the Trump administration's ‘zero-tolerance’ policy towards migrating families. The article was posted in Spanish and translated to English by Fight Back! staff.
Minneapolis, MN – On Sunday, Jan.14, immigrant rights activists, including students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, held a protest and community outreach action on the corner of Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue, a busy intersection in the heart of the Minneapolis Latino immigrant community. They demanded that Congress pass a clean Dream Act before the Jan. 19 congressional budget deadline.A clean Dream Act means permanent protection for immigrant youth with DACA status who were brought here as children, without pairing that with repressive anti-immigrant measures like the border wall, ending family-based immigration and the diversity lottery or increased raids and deportations against other immigrants like President Trump is trying to do.At the busy intersection, the protesters held signs and chanted demanding a clean Dream Act. Some signs also supported Salvadorans, Haitians and others for whom Trump has ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS), exposing hundreds of thousands of families to the threat of deportation. Some of the group’s signs also made pointed reference to Trump’s recent racist statement calling El Salvador, Haiti, and African countries “shithole countries.” Many passing cars honked and signaled their agreement with the anti-Trump and pro-immigrant message.The action was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Interracial Student Movement (ISM), as part of a series of efforts to pressure Congress to act now to pass a clean Dream Act.After protesting outside in the bitter cold for a half hour, the group went inside a popular Latino immigrant marketplace. There, American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Clyde Bellecourt spoke to the group, expressing support for immigrant youth. Bellecourt put the struggle in the context of European colonization of the Americas and the struggle of the indigenous peoples of the Americas for unity and justice, and emphasizing the importance of young people in leading the struggle forward.Then, in a visual and participatory action, the group shared balloons with messages supporting immigrant youth written on them with people in the marketplace. The organizers called on everybody to pop their balloons at the same time to symbolize that President Trump and Congress are trying to destroy young people’s dreams. Three organizers from the group spoke to the gathered crowd, sharing information with people about the struggle of DACA youth and the need for the community to get involved in the fight for a clean Dream Act.In September 2017, President Trump abruptly announced the end of DACA. A federal court ruling has temporarily forced the administration to keep DACA alive while court cases about it are still being heard. But this is a temporary situation, not a real solution. The need for action for immigrant youth is as urgent as ever. As soon as the court cases end, every day around 122 more immigrant youth will lose their legal status and face the threat of being deported and uprooted from the only life they have ever known. Having put 800,000 immigrant youth in jeopardy of deportation by ending DACA, President Trump and anti-immigrant Republicans in Congress are now cynically using these young immigrants as bargaining chips for their anti-immigrant agenda.Democrats in Congress have given lip service in support of immigrant youth, yet enough of them voted before the new year in support of the continuing resolution to fund the congressional budget for it to pass, temporarily keeping the government open until the fast-approaching Jan. 19 deadline. With that deadline upon us, another congressional vote on the budget is here, and the Republicans can’t pass it without some Democrats’ votes. So immigrant rights activists around the country are demanding that congressional Democrats turn their lip service into action and all vote no on passing any congressional budget unless a clean Dream Act is passed, even if that means a government shutdown. That is one of the strongest kinds of leverage they have to force a clean Dream Act through despite the opposition of anti-immigrant Republicans in Congress and the administration.
Minneapolis, MN – 70 pro-immigrant activists and community members gathered May 28 at The Bachelor Farmer restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, demanding drivers licenses for immigrants. The Bachelor Farmer is owned by Eric and Andrew Dayton, sons of current Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton.
St. Paul, MN – On the evening of May 23, dozens of members of Minnesota immigrant rights groups occupied Governor Mark Dayton’s office in the State Capitol indefinitely to demand that he veto SF 470 – the Public Safety Budget Bill – which was passed by the Republican House and Senate the previous day. The protesters are planning to stay all night or as long as it takes to get the governor to veto the bill.
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Houston, TX – Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4, a racist anti-immigrant law, amidst massive opposition, on May 7. The law gives law enforcement the ability to ask any person who “looks undocumented” for their identification papers when detained. Specifically, the law is designed to attack sanctuary cities, and is therefore tied to Trump's attacks on immigrants. It is very similar to SB1070, which passed in Arizona in 2010. The law will legalize racial profiling and create an environment of terror in the Chicano/Mexicano communities.
On Feb. 18, more than 2500 people gathered in Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis to protest President Trump’s recent executive orders against immigrants. The MN Anti-War Committee and the No More Deportations campaign co-sponsored the rally which was followed by a community march to show solidarity with the immigrants and refugees targeted by President Trump’s executive orders.
El presidente electo Donald Trump ha prometido una nueva fase de represión contra los inmigrantes indocumentados en los EE.UU., de los cuales el 70% son mexicanos y centro americanos. Durante su campaña presidencial, Trump se dirigió a los inmigrantes mexicanos con ataques racistas, llamándolos narcotraficantes, criminales y violadores. El “Nuevo Contrato con el Elector Americano”, plan de acción para los primeros 100 días de su administración, cumple con las promesas de su campaña.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised a new level of repression against undocumented immigrants in the U.S., 70% of whom are Mexican and Central American. Throughout his campaign for president, Trump has targeted Mexican immigrants with racist attacks, calling them drug dealers, criminals and rapists. His new “Contract with the American Voter” describing his 100-day action plan follows through his campaign promises.
Minneapolis, MN – A hundred people rallied in Minneapolis Sept. 14, calling for a stop to the deportation of several Twin Cities-area Cambodian (Khmer) refugees who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Washington D.C. – El anuncio realizado por la Suprema Corte el 23 de junio, destruyó la esperanza de más de 5 millones de padres y madres indocumentadas. El voto de la Suprema Corte quedó dividido en un empate de 4-4, lo que significa que no pudo ser revocada la decisión tomada por el tribunal de primera instancia, que impedía la implementación de los programas DAPA (Acción Diferida para Responsabilidad de los Padres) y la expansión de DACA (Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia).