Milwaukee WI – On January 20, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) students organized with Youth Empowered In the Struggle (YES!) won their campaign for the School Board to pass a resolution that would provide additional transparency and accountability for the School Resource Officers (SROs) that have returned to MPS this year.

The new resolution includes several restrictions on SROs’ power including strictly limiting when SROs can get involved with disruptive behavior, giving school staff final say over discipline in schools, barring strip searches, barring use of force and arrest in almost all cases, and mandating clear quarterly reporting about what SROs are doing in MPS.

During public testimony, students, teachers and community members shared many firsthand accounts of the ways SROs made schools more unsafe. Students made it clear they wanted the SROs out altogether.

“Some say SROs will improve the connections between cops and students, but that connection was lost long ago,” testified high schooler Payton Bone. There was real unity – between students with YES!, teachers with the Milwaukee Teachers and Educators Association, and community groups like Voces de la Frontera, Black Leaders Organizing our Communities, and the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression – that Milwaukee Police Department officers made schools more dangerous for everyone involved.

In 2020, Milwaukee Public Schools removed SROs from all of their schools. This was a victory for students, parents and school staff who wanted the notoriously violent and racist MPD out of their schools. Unfortunately, the passage of Act 12 in 2023 by the state legislature forced Milwaukee to put SROs back in schools or pay hefty fines. The new resolution was the first step in giving students, parents and staff more control over their schools.

Milwaukee’s students and community are already looking for how to build on this victory. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the leader of Voces de La Frontera, told the board, “That’s what’s needed from all of you – to stand up for what’s right and ensure there’s community control for how local law enforcement operates.”

Students from four high schools this week in Milwaukee have already walked out against ICE raids. MPS students and community have their sights set on even bigger victories to come.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Schools #InJusticeSystem #StudentMovement #MPS #YES

Madison, WI – More than 15,000 Mexicanos, Chicanos and Latinos, including students, workers, businesses owners and professionals joined a rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, occupying the rotunda. The huge masses of protesters came out in support of “El dia sin Latinos” or “A day without Latinos” to protest two anti-immigrant bills, AB 450 and SB 533. Some schools and businesses were half empty or closed as students walked out, and farms, factories and work places across Wisconsin were noticeably short-handed.

Both of the repressive Wisconsin bills, trumpeted by Governor Scott Walker, criminalize undocumented people, similar to the repressive SB 1070 law in Arizona. The first Wisconsin bill, AB 450, requires police and public employees to investigate the immigration status of people and then detain for deportation those who are not carrying papers. The second bill, SB 533 aims to block the issuing of local identification cards to undocumented immigrants who otherwise would not have an ID.

Jorge Maya of Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) said, “The protest was amazing to see, so many thousands of people out to defend their own safety and security in Wisconsin. The people are not harming or hurting anybody, but these new laws show the politicians don’t really care at all about the people.”

Student groups that marched were YES-Marquette University, YES-University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA). Other University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and high school students joined in as well.

El Rey supermarket shut down for the day, adding up to 500 workers to the march. The supermarket chain’s owner, Ernesto Vilarreal, encouraged his workers to attend the march and demand equality and justice for all.

#MadisonWI #ImmigrantsRights #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #YES

This action was primarily in response to a large scale sweep conducted by ICE in partnership with the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) on May 27, which resulted in the arrest of 22 people from their homes and workplaces. Over the last month a total of 49 people have been arrested in Milwaukee for being undocumented.

“We will defend our community as long as ICE keeps attacking us and until Obama grants deferred action for all,” said Oscar Hernandez, who was one of the ten activists chained together.

Two of the activists were family members of one of the men arrested on May 27. The 11-year-old girl saw her father being taken away by ICE agents as he had been preparing the car to bring her and her two sisters to school.

Activists chanted, “Undocumented and unafraid!” and “MPD shame on you, immigrants are people too!” as morning traffic began to flow through downtown. Though police threatened to arrest the chained activists chained, they backed off and watched the rally that lasted over three hours.

Immigration raids are conducted through the secure communities program, a partnership between local law enforcement agencies and ICE. A recent analysis of the program showed that the majority of people being targeted and detained are not criminals, with their most serious criminal offense being the misdemeanor of entering the country illegally.

Immigration raids – or sweeps – have been happening across the country including other major urban areas like New Orleans and Phoenix, as well as rural communities. A daily bed quota is set at 34,000 people being in detention and at some level of the deportation process. Many people are being held in for-profit prisons that exploit them as cheap labor while they wait to be deported.

This daily quota has been defended by the Obama administration, which has overseen the most deportations of any U.S. president, between 2 and 2.5 million since he took office. As President Obama stalls on immigration reform, thousands of families and communities are being ripped apart.

Activists in Milwaukee will continue to fight against deportations, sending the Obama administration a strong message that they must take action now.

#MilwaukeeWI #ICE #YouthEmpoweredInTheStruggle #ImmigrationsAndCustomsEnforcement #YES

This action was primarily in response to a large scale sweep conducted by ICE in partnership with the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) on May 27, which resulted in the arrest of 22 people from their homes and workplaces. Over the last month a total of 49 people have been arrested in Milwaukee for being undocumented.

“We will defend our community as long as ICE keeps attacking us and until Obama grants deferred action for all,” said Oscar Hernandez, who was one of the ten activists chained together.

Two of the activists were family members of one of the men arrested on May 27. The 11-year-old girl saw her father being taken away by ICE agents as he had been preparing the car to bring her and her two sisters to school.

Activists chanted, “Undocumented and unafraid!” and “MPD shame on you, immigrants are people too!” as morning traffic began to flow through downtown. Though police threatened to arrest the chained activists chained, they backed off and watched the rally that lasted over three hours.

Immigration raids are conducted through the secure communities program, a partnership between local law enforcement agencies and ICE. A recent analysis of the program showed that the majority of people being targeted and detained are not criminals, with their most serious criminal offense being the misdemeanor of entering the country illegally.

Immigration raids – or sweeps – have been happening across the country including other major urban areas like New Orleans and Phoenix, as well as rural communities. A daily bed quota is set at 34,000 people being in detention and at some level of the deportation process. Many people are being held in for-profit prisons that exploit them as cheap labor while they wait to be deported.

This daily quota has been defended by the Obama administration, which has overseen the most deportations of any U.S. president, between 2 and 2.5 million since he took office. As President Obama stalls on immigration reform, thousands of families and communities are being ripped apart.

Activists in Milwaukee will continue to fight against deportations, sending the Obama administration a strong message that they must take action now.

#MilwaukeeWI #ICE #YouthEmpoweredInTheStruggle #ImmigrationsAndCustomsEnforcement #YES