Los Angeles, CA – On January 20, over 200 community members from Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles gathered at Mariachi Plaza for a protest to oppose the incoming Trump administration. The event, organized by Centro Community Service Organization (CSO), brought together residents and local organizations united against Trump’s reactionary anti-immigrant agenda and broader policies that threaten oppressed nationalities like Chicanos and African Americans.

Speakers from grassroots organizations, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Union del Barrio, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, and the Raza Unida Party addressed the crowd, calling for resistance to attacks on immigrant rights, workers’ rights, and communities of color, particularly Chicano and Black people.

Rocio Rivas, an LAUSD school board member who defends public education from privatization spoke, as did progressive City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado. Protesters chanted slogans like, “We want education, not deportation” and “Power to the people, no one is illegal,” underscoring the rally’s themes of solidarity and resistance.

Angelica Reyes, a member of Centro CSO, stated, “Today, I rallied to remind my community of the vast power we hold when we stand and fight in solidarity. Join a community organization. Our liberation is tied to one another. Together we are unstoppable, together we win this fight. Together our love melts ICE.”

Reuben Navarrete, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and a Teamster at UPS, stated, “Another Trump presidency puts us on a dangerous path where our freedoms and liberties are trampled on and ignored. His plans to deport undocumented immigrants will disproportionately affect Chicano and Latino workers and tear families apart. His anti-union stance and alliances with corporate elites threaten workers globally. He attacks and intends to roll back the rights and protections of LGBTQ people. He is a direct threat to women’s reproductive rights. And his plans for environmental deregulation threaten our planet and all of us who live on it.”

Marisol Márquez, an FRSO and Centro CSO member, called for solidarity with immigrant communities in Texas, saying, “The bigots won in Texas. We will defend DACA in California and stand with DREAMers in Texas.”

After the speeches, protesters marched through downtown Los Angeles to LA City Hall, denouncing Trump’s policies, including the threat of mass deportations.

Centro CSO, the rally’s organizing group, is a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting for immigrant rights, police accountability, and public education in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. It is also part of the Legalization for All (L4A) network, a national network advocating for the comprehensive legalization of undocumented people.

#LosAngelesLA #LA #ImmigrantRights #CentroCSO #L4A #FRSO #Teamsters

Los Angeles, CA – Fires in Los Angeles caught many neighborhoods completely off guard, despite forecasts predicting life threatening winds reaching up to 100 mph in the mountain and valley areas. Late at night on Tuesday, January 7, residents watched flames engulf the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon. Many residents within the city lost power and internet service, and power lines and traffic lights collapsed as wind gusts grew intense.

In the morning of January 8, residents in all of LA awoke to ash covering vehicles, homes, streets and buildings. The intense stench of smoke filled the air and turned the sunrise sky a deep orange. Still, no alert went out to Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students about school closures. So, the bus drivers picked the students up and took them to school.

“The district was slow to act!” said Luis Sifuentes, an LAUSD school bus driver, “My eyes stung in the morning as I checked out my bus. Students arrived at school in the morning only for them to be in the auditorium until parents came and picked them up. It was a chaotic situation; they should’ve shut down the schools when the fires started.”

It wasn’t until about 10 a.m. that schoolteachers were notified that parents should pick up their students immediately from school. Panic set in and parents rushed to pick up their children.

“I actually didn’t send them to school at all,” says Jazmine Moreno, single mother of two LAUSD students. “I knew since this morning that it was going to end up happening this way. LAUSD is notorious for trying to push for a regular school day and then deciding halfway through the day that they want to dismiss the kids. They have no consideration for the health or wellbeing of the students or single, working parents who would have to leave work to pick kids up at the drop of a dime.”

LAUSD has notified parents that schools will remain closed for all of January 9 and to continue checking the school alerts for when classes will resume.

The fires have caused over 27,000 acres of devastation, over 70,000 to vacate and abandon their homes, and five known casualties. Fire departments from all over California and other states have trekked to southern California, in an attempt to help contain the wildfires. Unfortunately, 0% have been contained.

#LosAngelesLA #LA #PeoplesStruggles #Environment #Wildfires #Feature