How LA is uniting to provide mutual aid for those impacted by ICE raids
Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.
This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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Judge blocks late-night deportation of hundreds of Guatemalan children
A deportation flight of 700 unaccompanied children was halted by a judge at the last possible minute over the weekend. An attorney representing the children said it best: “There are protections for unaccompanied minors that provide how a child can be released from custody, to whom, and the process if they want to go back to their country… If this were a benign repatriation to send children back to their parents, it wouldn’t be happening at midnight on Sunday of Labor Day weekend.”
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It was never about crime. It was never about law and order. It was never about any of the things the fascists claim. The disgusting raids we’ve seen across the country are about one thing only: a white nationalist, ethnic cleansing operation to drive fear and foster hate.
The Trump regime is staging National Guard troops and federal law enforcement to invade Chicago in the same way they have invaded LA and DC, against the express wishes of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and the wishes of the people of the city and state.
Immigrant communities, already under attack from this racist administration, now face the threat of additional militarized forces kidnapping people from their homes, their jobs, public streets, and from inside their own vehicles. JB Pritzker’s press conference, and comments from community leaders and advocates make clear that this is a dangerous provocation from the Trump Administration. This is fascism, plain and simple.
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Crackdown on immigrant workers at a Wisconsin cheese factory triggers backlash, solidarity
Immigrants are the backbone of the dairy industry in this purple state, where dairy farms are located in red, rural counties. Despite the state’s reliance on immigrant labor, which comprises 70% of the dairy workforce, the Republican death grip on the state legislature prevents improving the situation of these essential workers, who are forced to drive without documentation and labor under exploitative conditions. The US Congress has refused to create a visa program that reflects the ongoing need for immigrant labor throughout the country.
Recently, the workers who kept W&W Dairy in Monroe, Wisconsin running throughout the pandemic were informed by Dairy Farmers of America, the new owners of the cheese-producing facility, that they would have to verify their legal status in order to continue work there. Instead, forty-three of them walked out of the plant, losing their jobs but demonstrating the power of workers.
Local community leader Bibiana Gonzalez explained, "Unfortunately, people confuse essential workers with workers who can be exploited.”
The workers were not alone. Local church leader Al Hudson explained the importance of solidarity with the congregation’s immigrant neighbors: “This is what churches are supposed to do.” Voces de la Frontera, a Milwaukee-based immigrant- and worker-advocacy organization, is also providing support--donate here!
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Occupation of Washington DC spreads fear, but the resistance is real and growing
The military occupation of Washington DC continues to pursue its mission of spreading fear in immigrant communities. The Guardian reports that, contrary to the President’s outright lies, restaurants in DC (where immigrants make up 36% of the workforce) are under extreme pressure because staff, regardless of immigration status, are afraid to leave their homes, afraid to show up to work. Some restaurants are struggling; some have closed either temporarily or permanently. One asylum seeker summarized, “You don’t want to go outside… it gives you a kind of emotional damage.”
At the same time, Mother Jones reports that “The Resistance is Active,” just not necessarily in the way that reporters or readers are trained to look for. Where DC residents are apprehensive that mass demonstrations might pave the way for even greater military presence, some are going on foot patrols, filming ICE and other law enforcement, and helping track ICE’s presence in other ways including uploads to the ICEblock iPhone app and posts on Nextdoor. Other small actions have formed in neighborhoods, sometimes spontaneously, including one in which a crowd of about 150 people seemed to deter ICE from patrolling Columbia Heights, a neighborhood densely populated with immigrants.
Residents of DC are providing a playbook worth noting and keeping in mind as this program of useless but fear-inducing military occupation threatens to expand to other areas.
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How LA is uniting to provide mutual aid for those impacted by ICE raids
Across the greater Los Angeles area, neighborhoods and communities are stepping up to provide material support for families who have been economically impacted by the ICE raids and military occupation of the city.
Mutual aid is taking many different forms at this time. Whether it’s a tamale fundraiser put on by a neighbor who noticed that the child of their local tamalero was helping his mother sell because so many of their customers had been taken by ICE it has impacted their business, to different organizations mobilizing volunteers to do grocery delivery to people afraid to go out in public for fear of being kidnapped, people are both self organizing to help their communities as well as tapping into orgs that have already been doing work but now need even more help and support as need in the community has grown.
“We know that no one is going to come to save us, that’s why we are trying to do this in these hard times,” said said Janet Martinez, co-founder and vice executive director of Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo, or CIELO, an Indigenous women-led organization that is bringing visibility and resources to the Indigenous migrant communities in LA.
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Take Action:
We invite you to take two critical action steps this week:
📣📣📣 The fascists at the White House are trying to weaponize financial pressure through DHS-administered grants that many synagogues receive. The Community Safety Committee invites everyone with a connection to a congregation or faith-based non-profit to reach out to your rabbi, clergy, or other communal leader! Find instructions here and reach out to your congregational leadership.
📣📣📣 We are continuing to show up for our friend, Xóchitl, who was abducted by ICE from the El Paso airport on August 3rd, despite holding DACA status. She had her first hearing today and needs our continued support. Find ways to support her in small ways here or consider getting Never Again support to plan your own action here.
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Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.
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