Minneapolis, MN – On June 8, 75 people gathered to protest President Biden’s executive order closing the border and restricting asylum. Immediately after Biden issued the order on Tuesday, June 4, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) called an emergency protest to oppose his action.

Biden’s executive order closes the U.S./Mexico border and severely restricts asylum. It is a continuation of Donald Trump’s repressive immigration policies and is a copy of the ban Trump tried to put into effect before he was blocked by the federal courts. During his presidential campaign of 2020, Biden sharply criticized Trump’s immigration policies and decried his efforts to restrict asylum. Biden is openly breaking his campaign promises and shifting U.S. immigration politics to the far right.

Susana De León, an immigration lawyer and community organizer, talked about the politicians’ hateful rhetoric: “Everything continues to be blamed on Black and brown bodies, indigenous people, and people who have been left out of the system by the same corporations that are now enjoying the highest profits while we have to get food at the highest prices ever.”

The location of the protest was significant. Protesters rallied in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood, a block away from where dozens of day laborers gather daily in desperate search of jobs to feed themselves and their families. The majority of the day laborers are immigrants who recently arrived from Ecuador, driving home the stark reality that President Biden is taking only repressive actions against immigrants while national pressure builds for Biden to grant Temporary Protective Status to Ecuadorian immigrants.

Adriana Cerrillo, speaking on behalf of the Minnesota Interfaith Coalition on Immigration, told the crowd her story and why it was difficult but important to her to be at the action: “It is very difficult for me to be here today, because my own trauma and my own experience from this fucking system is really hard, it’s really difficult. This system has taken so much from me, and yet it is my obligation to stay strong, and the way that I stay strong is by being with and surrounding myself with people like you here today.”

Asylum is a human right protected under international law. Both Democrats and Republicans are using immigrants in a political game. Biden’s closing of the border and nearly total ban on asylum is dangerous and must be opposed.

We must take a firm stance against racist and repressive anti-immigrant policies regardless of which political party is in power. MIRAC will join immigrant rights groups from around the country to protest both the Republican and the Democratic National Conventions this summer. Stand with MIRAC to demand no more attacks on immigrants and legalization for all.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #USMexicoBorder #MIRAC #Asylum

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Legalization for all Network.

!!Emergency Action!!

Call Biden and your two senators:

Stand Up to Anti-Immigrant, Racist Republicans!

In Eagle Pass, Texas, Governor Abbott, with support from Trump and other Republicans in Congress, are refusing to allow Federal Customs and Border Patrol agents to remove the deadly razor wire in the Rio Grande at Shelby Park. Texas lost their case at the Supreme Court, resulting in an ongoing standoff. Additionally, Governor Abbott has deployed the Texas National Guard to occupy 47 acres of Shelby Park. This occupation has led to at least three recorded deaths — the drowning of a mother and her two children. The Guard blocked Border Patrol from rendering aid to them and stood back as the three drowned. President Biden called on Abbott to also remove the Guard as immigration is a federal matter, but Abbott has refused to comply.

At the same time, Congress is coming closer to reaching an immigration deal. Republican House Speaker Johnson warned of stopping the deal and holding back further military aid to Ukraine and Israel, if the deal did not include stronger border enforcement. Current reports have read that if passed, the deal would dismantle key asylum protections, allow the president the power to “close the border” if a threshold of immigrants crossing is reached, and increase swift deportations. It is vital for Biden, the Democrats, the Senate, and the general public to stand up against these increasing racist attacks on immigrants by the Republicans.

We must denounce the growing oppressive, anti-immigrant sentiment the Republicans are whipping up targeting refugees from Central America, Mexico, Haiti, and South America. Now more than ever, we must support human rights activists in Eagle Pass who are seeing tremendous rise of immigration activity.

Make your THREE phone calls to:

President Biden and demand that he stand with immigrants against these racist Republican attacks! (202) 456-1111

Script: “My name is —- calling from (City/State) urging President Biden to side with the undocumented and put a stop to racist, anti-immigrant Republicans like Texas Governor Abbott who is leading countless atrocities and attacks against refugees! Don’t back down now Biden! Put a stop to human rights violations against the undocumented, legalization for all now!”

Send President Biden an email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Your TWO senators and demand they vote AGAINST further funding Ukraine, Israel and border militarization.

Look up your senators’ phones and emails:

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Script: “My name is ___ and I am a (YOUR STATE) resident. I urge the Senator to vote NO on the proposed funding bill that would severely restrict asylum rights, increase swift deportations, and provide billions of dollars to Israel to continue the genocide of Palestinians. The Senator must show they stand against attacks on immigrants to push a political agenda. The Senator should work toward an end to US aid for war and refuse to trade immigrant rights for further funding of death, destruction, and displacement.”

#ImmigrantRights #L4A #USMexicoBorder