Minneapolis, MN – A hundred people rallied in Minneapolis Sept. 14, calling for a stop to the deportation of several Twin Cities-area Cambodian (Khmer) refugees who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The rush hour rally at 12th Street and Washington Avenue near the Interstate 35W highway entrance sought to raise awareness about the urgent situation. Many drivers honked and waved to show their support as people chanted against deportation and waved signs such as “Don’t deport Khmer refugees,” and “Stop deportation of war victims.”

During the rally, a small group of family members of the detained men and community leaders had a meeting with a member of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s staff. After the meeting, they reported to the rally that the meeting was productive and they will continue to work with her office and also encourage Minnesota’s other elected officials to intervene to help stop these deportations.

In late August, at least seven Cambodian refugees in the Twin Cities area were detained by ICE, separated from their families, and informed that they will be deported to Cambodia. These detentions and pending deportations are part of a wave of deportations hitting Cambodian families around the country. Many Cambodians became refugees in the context of the U.S. bombing of Cambodia in the late 1960s and 1970s during the Vietnam War, and the subsequent political upheaval in Cambodia. Several of the people facing deportation were born in refugee camps and later migrated as refugees to the U.S. They have U.S. legal residency, but due to punitive immigration laws passed in 1996 and an agreement between the U.S. and Cambodia in 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11, they are now subject to deportation because of felonies in their distant past for which they have already been punished.

According to Giselda Gutierrez of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), “The United States should not be in the business of deporting war refugees and tearing apart families. They have already been through enough. We call on Minnesota’s elected officials to intervene to keep these families together and stop these unjust deportations.”

According to the spouse of one of the men facing deportation, “Cambodians and many other Southeast Asians have already sacrificed so much, this is injustice and double jeopardy with a lifetime punishment of returning to a country they’ve never known as home. The United States is their home. They made mistakes, had their punishment and should not be given a lifetime deportation sentence.”

The rally was organized by a coalition of groups including MIRAC's No More Deportations Campaign, the 1Love Movement, Manforward, Asian American Organizing project, Rad Azn, Asian American Pacific Islander Desi, Freedom Inc, IKARE, and Watt Munnisotaram. The families and organizations will continue to raise awareness and try to get Minnesota’s elected officials and ICE to stop these unjust deportations.

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #Immigration #Antifascism #refugees #Cambodia

We must confront the exploitative system, which gives rises to wars, refugees, immigration and poverty. Solidarity now with the refugees and immigrants!

We, the communist and workers parties that sign this text:

We denounce the imperialist aggressiveness, the interventions and wars, the USA, NATO and the EU and their “allies”, like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The criminal activity of these powers has caused millions of people to become refugees and immigrants.

All the bourgeois governments which have been participating all these years with armies, providing every kind of assistance and reproducing all the pretexts used to justify the unleashing of these imperialist interventions also bear serious responsibilities.

We denounce the EU and the bourgeois governments that follow a line of police-military repression of the refugees, who are trying to escape war, destitution and the human trafficking networks.

WE CALL for the reinforcement of class unity and popular solidarity with the peoples that are the victims of imperialist interventions and capitalist exploitation.

WE CALL on the peoples to intensify the struggle against the causes that uproot millions of people from their homes and at the same time to stand shoulder to shoulder with the immigrants and refugees, who are experiencing difficult inhuman conditions. The peoples must demand that their governments take the necessary measures to receive and shelter the immigrants and refugees in a decent way, and also must demand the abolition of the repressive mechanisms of the EU including the Dublin III Regulations.

The Communist and Workers Parties fight against the attempts of the bourgeois class and the bourgeois governments to utilize the immigration-refugee problem as a means to abolish labor rights and to intensify the exploitation of refugees and immigrants, of the working class as a whole, in the destination countries.

In the interests of the workers we must unite our strength and intensify the struggle against the USA, NATO, EU, the imperialist interventions and wars, against every attempt by the imperialists to manipulate the peoples. We must organize and come into conflict with the exploitative system that gives rise to wars, refugees, immigration and poverty. So that the conditions can be created that will allow the refugees and immigrants to return to their homelands, with the peoples in charge of their own destiny.

1. Communist Party of Albania

2. PADS

3. Communist Party of Australia

4. Party of Labour of Austria

5. Communist Party of Bangladesh

6. Communist PArty of Britain

7. Communist Party of the Workers of Belarus

8. Union of Communists in Bulgaria

9. Communist Party of Canada

10. AKEL

11. Communist Party in Denmark

12. Communist Party of Denmark

13. Communist Party of Finland

14. German Communist Party

15. Unified Communist Party of Georgia

16. Communist Party of Greece

17. People’s Progressive Party of Guyana

18. Tudeh Party of Iran

19. Communist Party of Ireland

20. Workers’ Party of Ireland

21. Communist Party, Italy

22. Communist Party of Malta

23. Communist Party of Mexico

24. Popular Socialist Party of Mexico

25. Communist Party of Norway

26. Communist Party of Pakistan

27. Palestinian Communist Party

28. Palestinian Peoples' Party

29. Philippines Communist Party [PKP-1930]

30. Russian Communist Workers Party

31. Communist Party of the Soviet Union

32. Communist Party of the Russian Federation

33. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

34. Party of the Communists of Serbia

35. Communist Party of Slovakia

36. Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain

37. Communist Party of Sweden

38. Syrian Communist Party

39. Communist Party of Tadjikistan

40. Communist Party, Turkey

41. Communist Party of Ukraine

42. Union of Communists of Ukraine

43. Freedom Road Socialist Organization [USA]

44. Party of Communists USA

#UnitedStates #Imperialism #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Immigrants #Socialism #refugees

During rush hour on Nov. 30, drivers honked their horns and gave the thumbs up every time the traffic light changed. Passersby stopped to take a flyer, talk and show support.

The Grand Rapids Anti-War Committee statement read:

“By claiming he will put Syrian refugees ‘on pause,’ Michigan Governor Snyder is not only threatening to violate federal law but also endangering the lives of the existing Syrian refugee population here in Michigan and all Muslims and Arab Americans.

“Thanks to Governor Snyder’s comments last week, Republican governors and presidential candidates across the country are now promoting racism, hatred and bigotry. This creates the conditions for bigots and white supremacists to harass and attack Arab Americans, Muslims and anyone else they decide to target. It reminds us how this country treated Jews fleeing German Nazism, and the disgraceful imprisonment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps.

“We Michiganders will not allow this hatred and bigotry, as this governor attempts to go rogue against federal law, UN Human Rights and common human decency. Syrians are refugees from a civil war provoked by the U.S. State Department, with arms and funding from the U.S. government.

“We invite you to come stand with the refugees and send a message to Governor Snyder. We will demand that Snyder, and all the other racist governors admit refugees, especially from war-torn Syria. If there were no U.S. wars in the Middle East, there would be no refugees.

“Come help us extend a warm Michigan welcome to Syrian refugees!”

#GrandRapidsMI #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Syria #ImmigrantsRights #refugees

Dallas, TX – About 40 protesters gathered at the Grassy Knoll near downtown here, Nov. 21, to call out Texas Governor Greg Abbott's anti-refugee statements. Abbott recently declared that Texas would not accept Syrian refugees.

Well known local activist Olinka Green addressed the protesters. “This country is made up of refugees,” she said, and “We are not afraid of refugees; we are afraid of Greg Abbott.” Later in her remarks, Green referred to U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict, funding Syrian rebels and dropping bombs. “Mr. Abbott, the U.S. had a hand in this. The U.S. brought this about. Well guess what? Now you gotta kiss the baby.”

Dan Sullivan, one of the organizers of the protest, placed the lion's share of the blame for the refugee situation on the U.S. “Syria is an example of a U.S. regime change project gone bad,” he said. “The U.S. has funded all kinds of nasty militias that have carried out one massacre after another. They have fueled a war that is less a civil war than a foreign invasion. Syria is badly suffering and Syrians are fleeing the destruction the U.S. has caused. The U.S. has no right to close its doors to these people.”

Sullivan also remarked on the shift in U.S. politics that the refugee situation is causing. “One governor after another has declared they will close their state to refugees, even though legally they have no power to do that. This is political pandering, political posturing. But it's a very dangerous kind of political posturing. In the case of Trump's remarks about identifying badges for Muslims, the comparison to Nazism is hard to avoid.”

The general theme of protester signs was “Refugees welcome,” but other signs included, “Jesus was a refugee,” “U.S. out of Syria,” and “Syrians stay, bigots be gone.” Protesters chanted “No to violence, no to fear, refugees are welcome here.”

#DallasTX #International #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AntiRacism #Syria #Texas #refugees

The protest, organized quickly by the Tucson Anti-War Committee, saw an explosion of interest in the event in less than 48 hours. “We are seeing a clear dividing line between those who stand for justice, peace and human dignity and those who support imperial wars, racism and capitalist greed. Clearly, we know where Ducey, the Republicans, and some Democrats stand,” said one of the organizers.

Arizona currently has several hundred Syrian refugees and the numbers could grow if President Obama continues the program to accept them. Ducey is part of a growing number of governors, now up to 32 states, who want to refuse entrance to Syrian refugees. Protest participants commented that this is only the beginning of mass mobilizations in solidarity with refugees and the oppressed.

#TucsonAZ #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #Syria #refugees #DougDucey #TucsonAntiWarCommittee