Austin, TX – The Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee (AIRAC) hosted a speakout on Saturday, February 7, in response to the call put out by the Legalization for All Network for a National Day of Action in solidarity with Minneapolis.

A dozen community members gathered at the south steps of the Texas capitol, maintaining the call for justice for victims of ICE terror and reiterating their demand for an end to local police collaboration with ICE.

After leading a round of chants, Jesse Valdelamar of AIRAC stated, “Around the country, people are demanding real change from our government. What has Mayor Kirk Watson done about the raids and police collaboration with ICE?” The crowd responded resolutely, “Nothing!”

Chants of “No cages! No raids!” and “Fuck ICE!” were met with enthusiasm by passersby and tourists, some of whom stopped to join in the chants, and drivers stopped at the nearby intersection honked and rolled down their windows to shout their approval.

Mia Reballosa of Austin Students for a Democratic Society said, “The past has shown us time and time again that the people are the ones who win. When communities come together to fight for one another, to care for one another, that’s when we are able to overcome these conditions of fear, death and violence. ICE out of Austin! ICE out of Texas!”

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #AIRAC #L4A

Austin, TX – Around 100 people gathered Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Texas Capitol to protest the ICE murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, and Trump’s ongoing campaign of deportations, raids and ICE terror against immigrants across the country.

Jesse Valdelamar, of the Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee, led the rally. He kicked things off with a round of energetic chants such as, “When ICE attacks, we fight back,” and “No more ICE, no more walls, free our families, free them all!”

Sofia Gomez of Austin Students for a Democratic Society told the crowd, “They call other human beings aliens, ICE using children as bait. Shame! Uncle Sam has no conscience. These systems function like they were meant to.”

Gomez continued, “But don’t be discouraged. We have the power to change this. We are the majority. We have air in our lungs, and we have the power to fight!”

Sameeha Risvi, civic engagement coordinator from CAIR Texas, said, “The people showing their faces, chanting in the streets, and demanding justice are not the danger. If we want to talk about rogue, masked agents, let’s talk about ICE. ICE operates in masks. ICE refuses accountability. ICE tears families apart in the shadows, and then calls it law enforcement.”

Risvi told multiple stories of immigrants who have been separated from their families, brutalized, detained, or killed at the hands of ICE agents.

Reflecting back on the George Floyd uprising in 2020, Jesse Valdelamar said, “We cannot let Alex Pretti and Renee Good die in vain. Remember that just six years ago, the people were able to send Trump and his lackeys on the run. We can and will do it again!”

Valdelamar ended off his speech with a call to action, “If you want to make a real impact and change the terrible direction this country is going, then join an organization and build the real movement on the streets!” The crowd responded with a resounding, “¡Sí, se puede!”

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #AIRAC #SDS #CAIR #AlexPretti

Austin, TX – On Friday, January 9, around 150 people rallied in front of the gates of the Texas Capitol building in protest of the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis two days earlier.

The Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee and Austin Students for a Democratic Society called the action. 

Jesse Valdelamar from the Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee kicked off the action with a series of chants including, “No cages! No cages! No raids! No raids!”

Valdelamar told the crowd, “Trump doesn’t want us coming together like this. But do you know what would really upset him? If regular working class people, not billionaires, were to come together and create good fighting organizations that don't disappear when the action is over, but persist. Good fighting organizations which resist the terror brought upon us by Trump and his lackeys. Good fighting organizations which advance, rather than retreat. The single most important thing you can do is to join the real movement in the street which is trying to change the current order of things. What the world needs right now are hardworking activists who are compelled to take risks, just like Renee.”

Daniel Ramirez, from the Freedom Road Organization said, “Once we take a look past the U.S.’s lies about immigrants, the truth is laid bare about how our immigration system is built in such a way that there exists a significant divide between the rights of those with citizenship and those without. This is clear. But what this means, and what the capitalists don’t want you to know, is that there exists a substratum of people that are hyper exploited, to raise corporate profits. Undocumented immigrants are, in large part, stuck in the gig economy, completely barred from fighting for better conditions and wages through unions.”

Mia Reballosa, a member of Austin Students for a Democratic Society, ended the rally with a fighting message, stating, “Right now is the time to defend our communities, our friends, our families, and our neighbors. As students and community members, we must come together and continue to demand ICE leave our homes and end this crusade of suffering. More than anything, ICE and their handlers in the White House wish that we would stay silent. What they want is if we stay quiet. If we stayed submissive. If we kept our heads down and stuck to our work or our school. But let me ask you this, when our homes are under attack, when our schools are under attack, when our friends and neighbors are under attack, when our families are under attack, when our livelihood is under attack, what do we do?” The crowd responded with a booming, “Stand up, fight back!”

#AustinTX #TX #ImmigrantRights #ReneeGood #AIRAC#SDS #FRSO