Los Angeles, CA – The evening of February 22, a group of fiery protestors gathered at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights, protesting Trump’s deceleration of a National Emergency for his wall. The Boyle Heights action was organized by Centro CSO and was one of the protests in response to a call to action made by the Legalization for All Network.

On the campaign trail, candidate Trump said that Mexico would pay for his wall. President Trump could not get funding for his wall on the U.S.-Mexico border even when his Republican Party controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. Then he shut down parts of the federal government for over a month in an attempt to get the funding for his racist wall. Trump then took it a step further by declaring a national emergency. With thousands of U.S. troops already mobilized to the border, a national emergency will heighten the tension, given that armed troops and border agents have unleashed tear gas on refugees.

Chanting, “Up, up with legalization! Down, down with deportations!” and “Trump, el burro! No! Al muro,” (Trump, the jackass! No! To his wall) the group received countless honks of support. Many passersby even joined the protesters in chanting as they drove by.

To sign onto the Legalization for All call go here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/legalization-for-all/no-trump-wall-no-state-of-emergency/2336613779684475/

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #BoyleHeights #California #Trump #wall #stateOfEmergency

Salt Lake City, UT – 40 community members gathered on a cold Saturday afternoon, February 23, to protest Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border. People came out to denounce what is understood as a racist and anti-immigrant ‘emergency’ and border wall. They also came because of the anti-immigrant attacks that continue to happen in Salt Lake City. Police brutalize Black and brown people, family members continue to be deported and anti-immigrant white supremacist groups have started organizing on college campuses in the city.

Ella Mendoza, with the Nopalera Artist Collective, said they came to the protest, “because I’m undocumented and fuck anyone who is trying to pick on my people.” When asked what needs to be done next, Mendoza urged people to create banners, rallies, art, anything but sitting around and doing nothing.

Students from both the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) came to the rally, concerned about the emerging white supremacist activity on both campuses. “We’re trying to organize an event at our school, because I feel like our school sort of stays quiet when certain things happen, and it needs to be addressed,” said a member of Latinx Student Union at SLCC.

The Trump administration needs to know that they are facing resistance from across the United States, and that Salt Lake City will stand strong and fight for our undocumented friends and family until the attacks stop.

#SaltLakeCityUT #Utah #Trump #wall #stateOfEmergency

Tampa, FL – In the wake of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to get increased funding to the border wall, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of South Florida (USF) held a rally to respond to the attacks on immigrants. The rally, held on campus on February 19, called for a halt to the preparation of a border wall, as well as pushing for more protections for immigrants across the country and at USF.

“This state of emergency is an abuse of power that has resulted from the implementation of racist ideas from the Trump administration. The wall is a symbol of white supremacy meant to scare immigrants and the people living in Central and South America,” said Tampa Bay SDS member, Taylor Cook.

The rally also drew comparisons of the federal administration with the university’s administration.

“USF was compliant in repressing Mehdi Zeyghami from speaking about his experiences during the travel ban, and nothing has changed. USF is still compliant with federal agencies like DHS, ICE and the FBI, agencies that have attacked immigrants around the country and on this campus,” said Tampa SDS member Kareem Hessen. Mehdi Zeyghami was an Iranian student at USF who was prevented from returning to his studies during Trump’s travel ban, while campus administration cut off his communication outlets to local news agencies.

Tampa Bay SDS’s current campaign is to make the USF noncompliant with various federal agencies to provide more protection for undocumented and international students in the time of the Trump administration and beyond.

#TampaFL #International #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Mexico #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #TampaSDS #DonaldTrump #borderWall #stateOfEmergency

Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds of people poured into the streets on Saturday, February 16, to demonstrate against the latest escalation of President Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.

The day before, Trump had declared a so-called “National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States.” Under the National Emergencies Act, the declaration could grant Trump new executive powers to allocate billions of dollars in funding toward further militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump claimed these measures will allow him to fulfill the racist “build the wall” narrative that he has used to mobilize his white supremacist base.

With only a day’s notice, several hundred local residents and dozens of organizations responded to the call to protest Trump’s declaration, issued by the Minnesota Caravan Solidarity coalition, which includes many local organizations including the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the Anti-War Committee, Hands off Honduras, and many more. Demonstrators took to the streets, marching through the immigrant-rich neighborhoods of South Minneapolis before packing the Walker United Methodist Church for speeches and planning further militant actions.

“It’s a political strategy. It’s to get re-elected,” Jorge Mújica Murias said of the national emergency declaration. “Donald Trump offered a wall to people who don’t know what’s going on in this country, who don’t know what’s going on at the border, and who don’t know what’s going on with people who make their meals at restaurants, who make their beds at hotels, and pick their food in every field in the United States.”

“We the immigrants, we built this country,” agreed MIRAC organizer William Martinez, an immigrant from El Salvador. “We are union members, teachers, nurses, people in construction and in the office. These are the people who built this country.”

A student, who recently travelled to Tijuana, Mexico to observe the conditions of refugees seeking asylum at the U.S. border, denounced the emergency declaration. “This is a deliberate abuse of power that is going to hurt the most vulnerable in Tijuana right now,” she said. “People fleeing violence have the right to go to a port of entry and ask for asylum, and that’s not what’s happening at our borders. Young people, LGBTQ people, are being denied this right.”

The national Legalization For All Network put out a call for local protests after Trump declared a state of emergency, as have other national organizations and networks. Actions happened in several cities this weekend, and many more are planned around the country on Monday.

The Minneapolis event featured lively discussion of next steps in the fight against racist political attacks on immigrants.

“The media is going to be talking a lot about legal challenges to Trump’s declaration, and also about legislation in Congress to stop it,” said Joe Callahan of Minnesota Caravan Solidarity. “But we don’t want to rely on those things, especially those legal challenges ending up in a Supreme Court that is very conservative.”

“A lot of the crises in Latin American countries that lead to their people seeking asylum in the United States are the result of aggressive U.S. foreign policy and military intervention,” said Autumn Lake of the Anti-War Committee. “When we are mobilizing in the streets, when we are voting, if we care about the plight of our migrant brothers and sisters from Latin America, it is imperative that we also put pressure on politicians to adopt anti-war, anti-imperialist stances.”

“This manufactured crisis is nothing more than a pretext to criminalize our immigrant neighbors, militarize our borders, and erode our constitution,” said David Gilbert-Pederson, a trade unionist with Minnesota Workers United. “But we say no. We will march, we will rally, we will sit in, we will strike, and we will shut this whole damn system down.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #Trump #borderWall #stateOfEmergency

Milwaukee, WI – An emergency rally was organized by local grassroots organizations and community members from diverse backgrounds, January 10, in Milwaukee’s Red Arrow Park. The rally was part of a larger national call to action from the Legalization for All Network, as a response to President Trump’s threats of a National Emergency to fund his proposed wall. The common messages for the night were, “We stand against Trump’s wall” and “Asylum for the refugees.” The frigid Wisconsin temperatures didn’t slow the rally down as the energy increased and attendees chanted, “No hate! No fear! Refugees are welcome here!”

A member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization told the crowd, “Trump is trying very, very hard to keep us divided at the ground level, so that we do not recognize our power as a united front to rid of billionaires like Trump, and imperialism altogether. But we are smarter than him, and that’s why we are all out here tonight.” The rally continued with speakers sharing stories of their parents making sacrifices to cross the border over to the United States. One stated, “My mother had the courage to cross the border, with the goal to give me a better life. She is not a criminal, none of the refugees are criminals.”

The rally was sponsored by the Milwaukee Coalition Against Trump (MCAT), which includes the Young People’s Resistance Committee (YPRC), the Young Workers Committee (YWC), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), and the Legalization for All Network, a national network of immigrant rights organizations. The Milwaukee Coalition Against Trump will continue to fight Trump’s racist agenda and every attack his administration takes against our communities.

No Border Wall, No Militarization of the Border! Refugees are NOT Criminals!

#MilwaukeeWI #PeoplesStruggles #DonaldTrump #borderWall #stateOfEmergency