Tucson joined other cities across the nation like Minneapolis, New York and Seattle in their condemnation of the highest court in the country supporting Trump’s Islamophobia. When asked what can be done about the ban now that has passed the Supreme Court, Tucson Anti-War Committee organizer Joe Jacobs said, “Create a mass movement and make this country ungovernable!”

#TucsonAZ #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #MuslimBan

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

Christine Hauschildt, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee explains, “While the current version of Trump’s racist Muslim ban includes north Korea and Venezuela as window dressing, it primarily targets majority-Muslim countries. The immigration ban is a thinly veiled attempt to further demonize Muslim immigrants by saying the ban protects the US from ‘terrorists.’ It is not a coincidence that the targeted countries have a majority Muslim population – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Chad and Yemen – and include countries that have stood firm against US aggression – Syria, Iran, north Korea and Venezuela.”

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #MuslimBan

Minneapolis, MN – On April 21, around 100 protesters rallied at the busy intersection of Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, holding signs that read, “No Muslim ban ever,” “No U.S. bombing Syria,” and “Stop the war on Muslims at home and abroad.” The rally was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to send a message of support to the Muslim community in anticipation for the upcoming Supreme Court hearing on the Muslim ban.

Protesters rallied for an hour and half and then held the busy intersection in an act of defiance. No arrests were made.

At the rally there was a wide variety of speakers including Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of MN CAIR, Misty Rowan of the Anti-War Committee, civil liberties and immigrant advocates, and leaders from the Japanese American and Dakota communities.

Mike Madden, a longtime member of Veterans for Peace, who was arrested in January 2017 for holding a sign that said, “Muslims welcome”, also spoke to the crowd. He is facing a charge of criminal trespass at a critical public service facility and if he is found guilty he could face up to a year in prison and a $3000 fine. His trial was supposed to start on April 23 but he announced at the protest that it has been delayed until June 4. Rally organizers asked the crowd to be ready to support Madden in June and pack the courtroom to show support for him and the right to protest.

On April 23, the MN Anti-War Committee and CAIR will co-host a forum at 7 p.m. at Bethany Lutheran Church in Minneapolis so that community members will be well informed about the significance of the case and how the Muslim ban affects the large Somali community in Minnesota.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #MinneapolisAntiwarMovement #Syria #MuslimBan

Minneapolis, MN – About 50 people gathered at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, June 29, to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate Trump’s Muslim ban.

The Supreme Court’s ruling allows the ban on non-U.S. citizens for 90 days and refugees for 120 days if they come from the Muslim-majority countries of Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan, unless they can establish a close relationship to someone living in the U.S.

The call for action was made by the Anti-War Committee, which also organized a protest that brought out 15,000 Minnesotans on Jan. 31, in response to Trump’s Muslim ban executive order.

Meredith Aby-Keirstad of the Anti-War Committee gave the opening speech, saying, “We are here today to say no not only to Trump’s racist Muslim ban but also to send a message to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a real danger the court will uphold all or part of the ban as a legitimate use of the president’s powers. Only protests can prevent that from happening, or undo it if it does happen. Remember it was protests, not legal argument, that stopped the administration from implementing its discriminatory travel ban this year.”

Maggie Kilgo, representing the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), stated, “Today immigrants, refugees and Muslims are under a vicious, mean-spirited attack. We in MIRAC are here to stand up to Trump’s attacks! The No More Deportations campaign has been fighting for years to stop deportations of thousands of our neighbors to Mexico, Central and South America, and we say no to attacks on Muslims, on immigrants and refugees. We are here today to say enough is enough. It is only by standing together and taking collective action that we can stop these attacks.”

Skyler Dorr of Students Democratic Society spoke about the recent counter-protest to an anti-Muslim rally on June 10 at the Minnesota State Capitol. “Our country is more at risk of being taken over by ultra-conservative Christian law than anything else. It's almost as if there is an underlying racist reason of why we think of one code of law one way and another the other way. It's almost as if there are acts being put out by our president that are encouraging people to think this way, that are encouraging people to have racist protests. This ban gives fuel to the fire of racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia.”

Some chants from the crowd denouncing the ban were, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, the Muslim ban has got to go!” and “No Donald Trump, no KKK, no Muslim ban today!”

One common sentiment expressed was that we need to continue organizing to build a campaign for when the Supreme Court meets to hear arguments on the Muslim ban this October.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #AntiWarCommittee #Antiracism #MuslimBan

The Minnesota Anti-War Committee will hold an Emergency Response Protest at 4:30 p.m. at the U.S. Federal Courts Building (300 .S 4th Street, Minneapolis) on Thursday, June 29, which is the day the order is to take effect.

Jennie Eisert of the Anti-War Committee explains the purpose of the protest, “Across the U.S., people protested every time the Trump administration tried their hand at pushing their racist and Islamophobic travel ban through, but multiple federal courts sided with the people. We need to make the Supreme Court strike down Trump’s racist Muslim ban. The court felt the public support for gay marriage and sided with the people. We need them to see the support for the Muslim community here in the U.S.”

Eisert continues, “Trump’s Muslim ban is racist and Islamophobic. The six majority-Muslim countries are being targeted because of U.S. foreign policy. These are all countries that the U.S. government is involved in militarily via third party or boots on the ground. These countries are majority Muslim and the Trump administration has painted Muslims as ‘terrorists’ since the presidential campaign. It is inhumane to deny Syrians and other refugees from war entry in the U.S. while the Trump administration escalates the conflict in their country.”

The MN Anti-War Committee has held multiple protests against the Trump Muslim ban, including a protest of 15,000 people in Downtown Minneapolis on Jan. 31.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

75 years earlier, on March 24, 1942, the U.S. government imposed a curfew on Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. The same day, the first roundup of an entire community took place on Bainbridge Island, Washington, across Puget Sound from Seattle. The curfew also led to one of the first acts of resistance, when Japanese American lawyer Min Yasui deliberately broke the curfew to test the legality of Executive Order 9066 on March 28, 1942.

After the November 2016 election, there has been a rise in anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments. Then on Jan. 27, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13769, which sought to ban travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. In response, states filed lawsuits that led to a court injunction against the ban, while grassroots protests of thousands of people happened at airports across the country.

According to a statement from the day of solidarity organizers, “NOC and the SBIA would like to invite you to a grassroots day of solidarity between Japanese Americans and American Muslims on Saturday, March 25. The event will begin in San Jose Japantown at the corner of 5th Street and Jackson Street at 11:00 a.m. and will proceed down 6th street to a rally at 12:00 p.m. at San Jose City Hall on 5th and Santa Clara Streets. The event is free and open to all who wish to oppose the growing anti-Muslim sentiments and government actions today.”

#SanJoseCA #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Islam #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

Minneapolis, MN – Despite cold and rain, 60 people rallied in Minneapolis to voice their opposition to Trump’s Muslim Ban, March 16. Starting the rally out were chants of “Hey Trump, let’s be clear: Muslims are welcome here!” and “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA!” which reverberated off the glass of both the Federal Court Building and the Minneapolis City Hall across the street. The protest was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee.

The protest’s speakers represented the broad coalition necessary to defeat Trump’s Muslim ban and included Imam Hassan Mohamud, Director of the Islamic Dawah Center; Stephanie Taylor, Anti-War Committee; Imam Hassan Jama, Executive Director of Islamic Association of North America; Brad Sigal, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee’s No More Deportation Campaign, and Jaylani Hussein, Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations – MN. The diverse speakers emphasized confidence and resolution with the latest court victory against Trump’s Muslim Ban.

The critical role played by protests in the streets in defeating Trump’s agenda was a common theme of all the speakers, and was underscored by Stephanie Taylor of the Anti-War Committee, who stated, “This racist ban was halted by popular outpouring of opposition combined with legal challenges from movement lawyers. However, we must challenge ourselves to continue the resistance and we are here with you to continue to fight back.”

Brad Sigal of MIRAC’s No More Deportation Campaign explained the pressing nature of immigrant raids and deportation campaigns in his speech, “There have been over 3 million deportations and families separated in the last eight years and now Trump wants to increase that even more. We say, ‘Enough is enough!’ This is not a faraway issue. This is happening right here, right now, all around us.”

Jaylani Hussein of the Council on American Islamic Relations – MN urged those present to come to the “10,000 who CAIR Call to Action” on March 25 from 4 to 8 p.m. at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium in Saint Paul, an effort to “activate 10,000 Minnesotans in the fight against bigotry and hatred.”

Hundreds of thousands, including tens of thousands in the Twin Cities, protesting in the streets, airports and other locations were critical to pushing for these defeats of Trump’s agenda. It was also clear that despite the current legal setbacks, the Muslim ban and other parts of Trump’s racist agenda will only be defeated by millions in the streets. The necessity of broad, militant coalition of forces was typified by Hassan Jama when he reminded the crowd that we must demand, “No ban, no wall, no wars! Unite!”

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #US #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #MinnesotaAntiWarCommittee #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

Tucson, AZ – A couple dozen Tucsonans gathered outside the federal government building to protest the new Muslim ban proposed by Trump. The crowd celebrated the victory over the Trump administration’s Islamophobic executive order, resulting from popular pressure and two federal judge rulings in Hawaii and Maryland.

“As we celebrate this short-term victory, we must continue to gather forces and build mass movements to stop Trump and the agenda of this administration,” said organizer Amanda Molina, “We know he will keep pressing for this issue and others that harm Arab and Muslim peoples. We must organize movements strong enough to stop him!”

#TucsonAZ #Antiracism #MuslimBan #TravelBan

The Minnesota Anti-War Committee will still hold a protest at 4:30 p.m. at the U.S. Federal Courts Building (300 S 4th St, Minneapolis) on Thursday, March 16, the day the executive order was scheduled to be put into effect.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a spokesperson for the Anti-War Committee explains, “Although changes to the original Jan. 27 ban include the exemption of green card holders and the removal of the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, the judge still saw it as a continuation of the racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic policies of the Trump administration. The fact that Donald Trump has not been able to implement either Muslim ban is a victory. People across the country have protested and expressed clear opposition to his anti-Muslim agenda. We will still be protesting tomorrow because the Trump administration seems determined to paint Muslims as ‘terrorists’ and to promote racist immigration policies. We want to send a message to Washington, and to our Muslim neighbors – especially our Somali neighbors – that we do not support Trump’s racist policies or rhetoric.”

Aby continued, “We are particularly concerned that the Trump administration is pursuing these anti-immigrant policies while at the same time escalating wars in the Middle East. This week marks 14 years of war in Iraq and we need to speak out not only against the racist treatment of immigrants but also against the U.S.-funded wars that are creating the very refugees that Trump is attacking.”

#MinneapolisMN #Antiracism #MuslimBan #TravelBan

Tampa, FL – On Tuesday, Feb 14, more than 20 students at the University of South Florida (USF) gathered to demand that the administration bring Iranian student Mehdi Zeyghami home. The rally, which began at 12 noon, marked the beginning of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) new campaign: “Sanctuary for All.”

Due to the Trump administration’s recent Muslim ban, which bars entry of nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, USF student Mehdi Zeyghami was denied re-entry into the country. Additionally, USF administration put a punitive freeze on all of Zeyghami’s accounts on university servers after his participation in an interview for an article published by the Tampa Bay Times. This freeze has isolated Zeyghami from his peers and has ensured that he cannot finish his education at USF.

Though USF administration claims to care about their students and hopes to encourage an environment of diversity, Zeyghami’s case is not an oddity. USF administration has a long history of repressing students and teachers, especially if they’re Muslim or Arab. One such case was that of Sami Al-Arian, a renowned and outspoken Palestinian-American civil rights activist and professor at the university from 1986 to 2003. In a now nationally recognized case of violation of First Amendment rights and academic freedom, Al-Arian was fired from USF and was later deported from the U.S. for supposed ties to a ‘terrorist’ group.

The Trump administration’s policies of hate, such as the Muslim ban, present further opportunities for USF and other universities to exercise racist policies that restrict who is allowed access to higher education and who might teach it.

It was because of the Muslim ban, cases such as Sami Al-Arian’s, and USF administration’s recent handling of the Mehdi Zeyghami case that Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) started their Sanctuary for All campaign, and organized the rally, alongside Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), to bring Mehdi home.

The rally began with a variety of chants including, “USF shame on you! Mehdi is a student too!” There were also several speeches featured, from members of SDS and SJP.

“Our new long term campaign is working towards USF becoming a sanctuary campus. This entails USF taking an active stance against racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic policies to protect everyone involved with USF: Students, faculty, staff, etc. Mehdi is one of us and deserves to finish his education at USF, a university that claims to have its students’ best interests at heart,” said SDS member and emcee of the event, Ennya Blaize (pronouns: they/them).

Blaize was followed by SJP member, Rahma Elmohd, who in a speech said, “It is our responsibility as students at this university to demand that USF publicly support Mehdi’s return to the U.S. It is our responsibility to demand Mehdi is provided a full-time lawyer for his case and cases like his. It is our responsibility to demand that USF become a sanctuary campus for all students, so that no student is robbed of their education.”

After several more chants and another speaker, the final speech was given by SDS member, Chrisley Carpio, who said, “The ruling class won't tell the story of Tampa students who said ‘no’ to keeping Mehdi out of the U.S., ‘no’ to the ban on Arab and Muslim immigration, ‘no’ to a registry for Muslims in the U.S. It'll be up to us to spread the word about this demand, get more students on our side, and break the myth that we are doomed to suffering, because we have no power. We do have power. It lies in our history, in our education and in our ability to resist by any means necessary. We're just getting started!”

SDS ended the event with the chant, “What do we want? Bring Mehdi home! When do we want it? Now!”

#TampaFL #StudentMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #Trump #MuslimBan

Minneapolis, MN – The Anti-War Committee and the No More Deportations campaign are co-sponsoring a community march to show solidarity with the immigrants and refugees targeted by President Trump’s executive orders, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017 from 1-3:30 pm. Protesters will rally in Powderhorn Park and then march on Lake Street past hundreds of immigrant owned businesses to say “Immigrants are welcome here!”

The Anti-War Committee’s call for the protest says the protest will focus on denouncing the Muslim ban, the wall on the US-Mexico border, and Trump’s war threats. The protest call also calls for Minneapolis and St. Paul to remain sanctuary cities.

There is a growing movement against the president’s anti-immigrant policies. The Washington Post reported on Feb. 7, “that majorities oppose all of President Trump’s recent immigration moves...There has been a 12 point net swing against the general idea of the travel ban in the last month.”

According to reports from the Associated Press Feb.17, the Trump administration is considering the deployment of up to 100,000 members of the National Guard to round up undocumented immigrants.

Ana Vasquez of the No More Deportations campaign said, “We must all stand together to stop deportations and defeat the travel ban. Immigrant and refugee communities are under attack and all people of good conscience must unite and resist these racist attacks.”

This protest is the follow up event from the Anti-War Committee’s last march on Jan. 31st where 15,000 people protested and the march was 7 blocks long.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #AntiWarCommittee #NoMoreDeportationsCampaign #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

Tampa, FL – On Jan. 27, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” which bars entry of nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries regardless of whether they have valid visas, green cards or refugee status.

This is a racist attack that specifically targets the people of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. These same countries in the Middle East and Africa have been subjected to the terror of U.S. wars, bombings and economic sanctions for decades. With military bases in foreign lands, armed personnel in 130 countries, and a military budget larger than the next ten governments combined, the U.S. ruling class maintain a worldwide empire of oppression that is constantly at war.

Sovereign governments that dare not bow to U.S. political and economic domination are punished with crippling sanctions as a form of collective punishment against civilians, and are targeted for brutal overthrow through direct invasion or proxy groups. Sanctions on Iran alone have resulted in massive inflation and 40% of the entire population in poverty, while the total death toll from ten years of the U.S.-led ‘War on Terror is estimated at 2 million lives, according to a study from Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Trump’s executive order calls for a review of the visa and refugee programs arguing “numerous foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since Sept. 11, 2001.” But why should people perceive ‘foreign-born terrorists’ as grave domestic threats when the FBI continually manufactures its own plots? In 2012, Petra Bartosiewicz in The Nation reviewed the post-9/11 body of terrorism cases and concluded that nearly every major post-9/11 terrorism-related prosecution has involved a sting operation, at the center of which is a government informant. Many informants are incentivized by money, and can be paid as much as $100,000 per assignment. The U.S. government provides the weapons, suggests the targets, and entraps Muslims to justify their ‘War on Terror.’

The billions invested yearly by the U.S. government into racist state repression and genocidal wars for corporate profit could instead be used to finance and improve education, health care, people's rights and welfare. However, it is not in the interests of bank-bailing and investor-driven politicians to make such radical changes a reality. Only through organizing independent of the political establishment controlled by and built for the rich can oppressed people harness and exercise our collective power as a conscious and united force to demand change. Through coordinated action we are saying that there can be no ‘business as usual’ until our demands are met, and that the ruling class who own everything in society can’t actually produce anything or make schools run without subservient students or workers.

A federal judge issued a temporary halt on Feb. 4 against the Muslim ban after tens of thousands of people protested in airports, communities and campuses across the country. Around 1000 Yemini owned stores closed for eight hours on Feb. 2 in the city of New York. Grassroots, mass-based organizations such as Arab American Action Network (AAAN) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) have continued to organize and raise demands for sanctuary campuses and cities. The Council on American and Islamic Relations (CAIR) has engaged in a legal battle with the Trump administration over the ban.

Additionally, one of the biggest victories for Muslim communities recently was the dismantling of a long existent bi-partisan Muslim registry called the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS). NSEERS devastated our communities, alongside aggressive FBI surveillance and vicious entrapment. Thousands of families were torn apart, jobs were lost; some communities never fully recovered. Only after 14 years of almost constant organizing by groups such as Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) was it successfully dismantled.

The lesson of our recent victories, and nearly every historic struggle that won people's basic rights under this system, is that we need to build organizational power opposed to both parties of the capitalist 1% and their oppressive policies. Organizing paves the way for people to learn through struggle the necessity of organization as a means to protect their rights and welfare, a lesson we must consistently summate when educating our communities about their rights.

#TampaFL #ImmigrantRights #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #MuslimBan

“It cannot be overstated that this victory was won because of protest and ‘Unity in Resistance,’ our theme these past few weeks,” said Muhammad Sankari of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). “The tens of thousands of people that took to the streets and airports across the U.S. provided the conditions for this legal victory.”

It is anticipated that Trump will continue to fight the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

At the Oak Park Village Hall on Feb. 6, the AAAN joined PASO-West Suburban Action Project and a standing room-only crowd to witness another unanimous vote – this one passing the strongest Welcoming Village ordinance in all of Illinois. After months of negotiations between a PASO-led coalition and the Oak Lawn Board of Trustees, led by Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb, a Palestinian immigrant from Gaza who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, the vote ensured that “no village agency or employee is permitted to accept requests by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other agencies to support or assist in any capacity with immigration enforcement operations,” according to the Chicago Tribune. Only a properly issued criminal warrant will allow Oak Park to transfer any person into ICE custody.

The ordinance also states that village employees or agencies cannot assist with the “creation, publication or maintenance of any federal program to register individuals present in the United States based on their ancestry, national origin or religion.”

#ChicagoIL #US #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #Elections #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

Jacksonville, FL – Over 300 people gathered outside the Duval County Courthouse on Jan. 31 to call for the repeal of President Donald Trump's anti-Muslim refugee ban.

Called “No Human is Illegal,” the event was called by Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC), a community activist organization most known for its successful campaign to remove Angela Corey, Jacksonville's racist former state attorney, from office

The protest brought together a diverse crowd of working people, college and high school students, and community activists. Families from Jacksonville's sizable Arab American community attended and spoke out against the ban. Organizers and advocates behind the campaign to extend the city's Human Rights Ordinance to protect the LGBTQ community came out in force, as did union workers from the Teamsters, the Communications Workers of America, and the North Florida Central Labor Council. Several Black liberation movement activists and groups also attended in support of refugees and Muslims.

On Jan. 26, Trump issued an executive order blocking refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries – Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia – from entering the U.S. The order sparked a massive wave of protests in cities across the country, just days after the giant women's march in Washington D.C. protesting Trump's inauguration. In the face of mounting public pressure, a federal judge halted the refugee ban. A federal appeals court is scheduled to rule on the legality of Trump's order in the coming days.

Building resistance to Trump

The crowd gathered outside the courthouse in the early evening, chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here,” and “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.” Community activists and speakers from over a dozen organizations denounced Trump's attacks on Muslims and immigrants and called for mass resistance to the president's agenda.

“If you remember, Trump's first speech was an attack on Mexicans,” said Wells Todd, an organizer in the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. “From out the gate, this man was attacking minorities.”

Other speakers called for continued protests against Trump's agenda and spoke on the need for a mass resistance movement.

“We need to build a rebellion against the 1%, and rest assured, Donald Trump represents that 1%,” said Dave Schneider, a rank-and-file Teamster. “In this country, we have a democracy for the rich, which is a dictatorship for the rest of us. I say let's turn the tables of them, because there's a heck of a lot more working people than there are rich people in this country.”

After hearing from over a dozen speakers, the crowd marched to city hall and the nearby federal courthouse building.

The people shut down violent Trump supporter

Despite trolling on social media and vague threats online, only three counter-protesters showed up at the rally. One Trump supporter, dressed in a 'Blue Lives Matter' vest, attempted to jump in front of the crowd with a giant Trump-Pence campaign sign. Several organizers recognized him from a #BlackLivesMatter in Jacksonville several months before, which he tried to verbally and physically disrupt.

When protesters moved in front of the single Trump provocateur to block out his sign, the man became enraged and forcefully shoved two people. In response, several protesters grabbed the Trump-Pence sign, crushed its wooden support frame, and kicked him out of the rally.

The significance of the refugee ban on the First Coast

Although Trump's ban reportedly did not affect anyone flying in at Jacksonville International Airport, the fight against anti-Arab racism and anti-Muslim bigotry has special significance on Florida's First Coast. Jacksonville has the tenth-largest Arab population (8000) of all U.S. cities, as well as the fifth-largest Syrian American population (1100). The city is also home to nearly 10,000 Muslims, many of Eastern European or southeast Asian descent.

In 2015, three Jacksonville relief agencies agreed to take in as many as 2000 refugees per year from Syria and other parts of the Middle East. However, Mayor Lenny Curry, a longtime Trump supporter and Islamophobe, vocally backed the refugee ban, putting the status of any future refugees arriving in Jacksonville up in the air.

#JacksonvilleFL #ImmigrantRights #Antiracism #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #MuslimBan

Hundreds of protesters took over the streets of downtown Miami Saturday afternoon. Feb. 4. The large crowd marched from Bayfront Park to the Miami Dade Courthouse behind a banner that read “Dump Trump.” The march was organized by the Anti-Trump Action Committee (ATAC), whose demands included; reinstating Miami as a sanctuary city, undoing the immigration ban, no construction of any wall along the border, and no use of nuclear weapons.

As they marched through the streets, the marchers chanted “No ban, no wall!” and, “No hate, no fear refugees are welcome here!” Megan Shade, one of the organizers with ATAC, led several of the chants and spoke enthusiastically to the group of protesters.

“I say to you, that this moment, on this day, will set forth a movement of resistance and a movement for the liberation and freedom of not some, but all,” Shade said. “But we cannot truly be free without the sovereignty and autonomy of our own bodies. History tells that our bodies, particularly bodies of color, trans and queer bodies are not ours to control, we, and everyone here today, are on the frontlines. We are the resistance.”

The protest lasted about three hours, after which many of the activists in Miami drove up to West Palm Beach where an even larger protest took place outside of Donald Trump’s “Summer White House” in Mar-a-Lago. Protesters at Mar-a-Lago were met with heavily armed police in riot gear, clearly meant to intimidate the crowd. But most did not let that deter them, and instead chanted, “El pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido!”

#MiamiFL #US #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #MuslimBan

Thousands of protesters converged on the capitol, Feb. 4, to demand an end to Trump's Muslim ban and attacks on immigrant communities.

The huge crowd chanted, “No ban, no wall,” “Move Trump, get out the way,” “No hate no fear, refugees are welcome here!” along with other chants.

Joshua Parks, a student activist who attended the march said, “It is evident that a large sector of American society believes that President Trump's administration is a threat to oppressed people. We will continue to be in the streets, as we were today, until we see the change that we desire.”

The march originated at the White House.

#WashingtonDC #US #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

More than 1000 people came out to protest in front of Senator McCain’s office in downtown Tucson, Jan. 31, to protest Trump’s latest executive action banning many Muslims from entering the country. Although the protest was spontaneously organized through Facebook by community members, given the recent nationwide outrage against Trump’s latest attacks against immigrants, Muslims and refugees, people from all backgrounds answered the call for mobilization.

One of the speakers who took the mic to address the crowd was local organizer and outspoken immigrant rights advocate, Zaira Livier, who said, “Now, what we know of this new regime is that within the first 11 days in power, they have declared war on Muslims, Native Americans, Mexicans, on LGBTQ, on women, on African Americans, on science, on climate, on facts, and on the checks and balances in place to regulate their power. The Muslim ban wasn’t written to stop illegal immigration, it was written to detain and deport immigrants who have already gone through the vetting process and who either held a visa or a green card. Brothers and sisters, we must be vigilant. We must not get discouraged and we must not desist not even for a day.”

#TucsonAZ #ImmigrantRights #US #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #MuslimBan

About 15,000 people marched through the streets of downtown here, Jan. 31 to protest Trump’s Muslim ban. The protest was organized by the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a spokesperson from the Anti-War Committee stated, “We will not be silent as Trump promotes anti-Muslim bigotry. It is criminal for the U.S. to bomb and attack other countries and then turn away refugees when the U.S. has destroyed their homelands. It is outrageous for Trump to consider doing this while at the same time planning to expand the war in Iraq and Syria!”

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #US #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #2016Elections #MuslimBan

Chicago, IL – For the second night in a row, protesters converged at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Jan. 29, to say no to President Trump’s Muslim ban. The protest was called by the Arab American Action Network.

Last night, Jan. 28, over 3000 people, including Chicago city council members, Illinois state senators, Cook County commissioners, and federally appointed officials, filled the streets in front of O'Hare's international terminal, as well as the inside of the terminal itself, calling for the release of Arabs, Africans, and/or Muslims from the seven countries who were being detained at the airport in response to Donald Trump's executive order.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #MuslimBan #Airport #OHare