Garland, TX – Over two dozen people gathered on Saturday, September 13, for a town hall meeting for the DFW Anti-War Committee's “Stop the Bombs” campaign to shut down the Repkon munitions factory.

The town hall builds off numerous community events and film screenings in Garland designed to drum up interest in the campaign and educate residents about the facility. Held in a Garland place of worship, the town hall started with a brief presentation detailing the research uncovered by the Anti-War Committee.

The Repkon facility in Garland is responsible for producing the bomb bodies of the MK-80 series bomb, which Al Jazeera reports are the primary bombs dropped on Gaza. They form a crucial point in the ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians since October 7, 2023. The facility also produces the BLU-109 “bunker buster” bombs, which destroy entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Additionally, the facility has racked up multiple environmental and OSHA violations in its decades-long history, threatening the working-class neighborhoods surrounding it.

After the presentation, the room broke into discussion groups to facilitate community input on the campaign's continued development. Many community members brainstormed ways the plant's tooling could be repurposed to help the community. “There's so much more you could be doing with a factory that size that does not involve killing children,” Len Roberts, a Garland resident, said.

“People care about Palestine but don't know how to help or get plugged in,” noted Rose W. “Going up to people in places where there is a large group with flyers and how to help is important.”

Ties were made to other organizations and power wells that the community could use to build pipelines to increasingly strengthen the campaign’s pressure on Repkon. Andrea Vallardes, a labor organizer, said, “I want to engage and use the power of unionized workers, such as workers at Lockheed Martin, by organizing family-friendly events combining refugees, immigrants and others to build labor power fighting for Palestinian liberation and freedom from imperialism worldwide.”

“I'm curious about the danger of emissions the plant is releasing into the neighborhood that we haven't measured,” another Garland local, Chase Grossman, commented. “Outside of the bombs that they make, they are endangering their community and their workers every day.”

Further discussions covered where to apply pressure locally, and different ways to engage the local community and build people power. Specific strategies and tactics, including reaching out to local faith and environmental organizations while stressing the local dangers the facility poses, came up. The small groups then elected a member to report back a summary of their discussion to the rest of the attendees.

“At first, when I heard about this campaign I was a bit skeptical,” said Camille Kaplan. “I didn't think it was possible to win. But now I actually think there is a chance to make it difficult for Repkon to continue business as normal.”

The next event in the Stop the Bombs campaign is a rally and vigil on October 10, in front of the Repkon facility, to mark of two years of the genocide in Gaza.

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #DACA

Minneapolis, MN – On the morning of December 20, after weeks of continued pressure, activists occupied Senator Klobuchar's office with the goal of meeting with the senator directly to demand she introduce the American Dream and Promise Act in the Senate. The mobilization came less than two weeks after a militant street protest in front of Klobuchar's office that ended with a promise to “be back.”

The action began with members and supporters of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) entering the building that houses Klobuchar’s office demanding to meet with the senator’s staff. The senator's top local aides led participants to an office conference room for a formal meeting. Activists called once more for Klobuchar to introduce the American Dream and Promise Act, which passed the House 21 months ago and must be introduced in her Senate committee. The bill would permanently legalize over 3 million Dreamers and TPS recipients who currently have no other pathway to citizenship – and who are on the verge of losing their status at the hands of the Supreme Court.

Activists expressed anger and frustration over the senator's inaction for immigrant rights during such a crucial time. They demanded to meet with Klobuchar directly, and stated they would not leave the office until Klobuchar herself spoke with them, staging a sit-in.

During this time, other members and supporters began to arrive and were forcefully pushed from the door of the building by building staff and were denied entry. They were told that Klobuchar’s office instructed them to not allow anyone inside. Even a member of the press was initially kept out, finally negotiating his way in.

When it was clear to the senator's aides that the activists would not leave, they got Klobuchar to agree to speak directly with two MIRAC representatives. On a conference call from D.C., activists explained their demand directly to Klobuchar – introduce the American Dream and Promise Act immediately so it can be voted on in the Senate. Klobuchar verbally agreed to immediately bring this demand to Senators Schumer and Durbin to begin to take real action.

The sit-in concluded with a message from members on the ground to their supporters via social media livestream that their demand had been met – that Klobuchar herself spoke with them and agreed to take real steps to introduce the bill. MIRAC ended the mobilization for the day, but reminded supporters that we must continue the pressure and keep contacting Klobuchar and all our senators because the fight to defend DACA is not over. We must continue the fight for legalization for all now!

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #SenatorAmyKlobuchar #DACA #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommitteeMIRAC

Dallas, TX – On November 6, protesters gathered at Dealey Plaza to demand the continuation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a U.S. immigration measure that protects from deporation immigrants who came here as children, and which is now threatened by the right-wing Supreme Court. The protest was called by La Frontera Nos Cruzó.

Protesters held signs demanding the continuation of DACA, as well as demanding that DACA recipients receive immediate legal status from the United States government.

Xavi Velasquez of La Fontera Nos Cruzó gave a speech demanding that all DACA recipients receive legalizaion and criticizing the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden for only offering false promises in exchange for votes.

“If the most powerful empire on the face of the earth can't grant DACA recipients legalization than what are the riches of the empire worth? The truth is that this administration can legalize them, and we demand it, before DACA is thrown out, legalize them,” stated Velasquez. “Biden promised to end the practice of throwing families in cages; he's yet to do that. Well we need more now, we want ICE out of our lands, and we want legalization for all,” he continued.

Daniel Sullivan, speaking for the Dallas Anti-War Committee, gave a speech detailing the United States' role in creating humanitarian crises worldwide that lead to refugees fleeing to the United States, mentioning Honduras and Haiti, where the U.S. has repeatedly interfered and occupied. “The United States has no moral right to turn its back on the people whose country they have torn up, and have consequently been forced to flee that country,” stated Sullivan.

#DallasTX #PeoplesStruggles #DACA

Minneapolis, MN – On Friday, October 21, more than 50 protesters gathered with signs, banners and sidewalk chalk outside of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to demand that the U.S. Senate take action to legalize immigrants with DACA, a program which is currently under attack. The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, recently passed its ten-year mark since being implemented in 2012. It is a temporary program for young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, in order to shield them from deportation and allow them to work. For 10 years, Congress has done nothing to provide permanent protection for these young immigrants as they have built lives, families and careers in the U.S. The DACA program – and the lives of almost 800,000 young people – has been in limbo for the past ten years, and now, even this limbo status is in danger.

Earlier this month, The Fifth District Court sided with anti-immigrant Judge Andrew Hanen and maintained that the DACA program partially ended, a decision Judge Hanen ordered a year ago. The court sent the decision back to Judge Hanen for a final decision, in order to allow him to review the federal government’s updated DACA regulations that were recently implemented by President Biden. Whatever Hanen decides, the fate of DACA is expected to end up going to the Supreme Court. Right now, only Congress can permanently protect DACA recipients.

The American Dream and Promise Act is a bill that will permanently legalize people with DACA status as well as people with a couple other temporary immigration statuses. The bill passed the House of Representatives in March 2021, and President Biden has expressed his support for it. But a year and a half after the House passed the bill, it still sits languishing in the Senate.

A group of about 20 of the protesters went into Senator Klobuchar’s office. They read and then delivered a letter to one of the senator’s aides expressing the urgency for Congress to act before the end of this congressional session. There is urgency because right-wing judges seem intent on ending DACA and throwing hundreds of thousands of people into undocumented status. And many analysts predict that the Republicans will take control of either the U.S. House or Senate or both in the midterm elections on November 8. If that happens, the possibility of Congressional action to legalize people with DACA becomes much smaller, given the extreme anti-immigrant politics that dominate the Republican Party.

In this context, demonstrators demanded that Senator Klobuchar take the lead in getting the Senate to pass the American Dream and Promise Act or similar legislation before the end of the year.

#MinneapolisMN #immigrantRights #DACA

New Orleans, LA – Dozens of protesters rallied at the statue of Benito Juarez on August 27 to demand hurricane relief funds for all immigrants, regardless of legal status. The rally also came in response to national call to action by the Legalization for All Network to defend DACA against legal attacks and to commemorate the Chicano Moratorium.

The rally was planned to coincide with the anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ida, which both made landfall in Louisiana on August 29. Although it was largely the labor of immigrant workers that rebuilt New Orleans after both disasters, many immigrants face legal barriers to disaster relief funds.

Sebastian Miscenich of New Orleans Immigrant Rights Action said, “migrant workers rebuild this town time and time again after hurricanes, so immigrants need to become a priority for city government. People deserve access to funds to rebuild their homes and support themselves and their families regardless of legal status.”

Members of New Orleans Immigrant Rights Action circulated a petition at the rally demanding that the city of New Orleans establish an immigrants’ fund in the city budget. The fund would provide for disaster relief for all immigrants regardless of status, comprehensive legal defense for immigrants facing deportation proceedings, and full translation equality for city resources.

Speakers also brought attention to the threat that the Supreme Court poses to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows undocumented people who arrived to the United States as children to work and live in the country legally.

Miscenich said, “the unelected, right-wing Supreme Court wants to overturn DACA. This would not only strip people who have committed no crime of their legal status but leave the government with a list of who they are and where they live.”

Antonia Mar of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke in commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium, saying “the Chicano Moratorium demanded an end to the imperialist war in Vietnam and an end to discrimination against Chicanos. We’re here showing that the struggle for self-determination and dignity continues!”

Bilingual interpretation and banners were provided by Unión Migrante, an immigrant workers group in New Orleans. The rally overcame technical issues with the sound system, amplifying the speakers with the people’s mic. Protesters chanted “Disaster relief, it can’t wait! The next hurricane is too late!” and held signs reading “Disaster relief regardless of status now!” and “Defend DACA!”

#NewOrleansLA #PeoplesStruggles #hurricane #DACA #NOIRA