By JOHN LESLIE — UPDATED, July 9 — Abolish ICE! Stop the raids! Reunite families! No Wall! Those are some of the central demands shouted by thousands who have taken to the streets to protest Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies. Occupy ICE encampments of protesters have been set up outside ICE headquarters and other government … Continue reading Trump uses kids as bargaining chips as immigration fightback grows
By LISA LUINENBURG Trump’s views on immigrants are well known. Over the past year and some months that he has been president, Trump has attempted to bully Congress into enacting ever more draconian measures targeting undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S. He has threatened to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He … Continue reading Immigration crackdown: Just Trump’s policy or a disease of capitalism?
By DEWITT KENNARD The total number of the world’s displaced people is at an all-time high. Fear of persecution caused by war, race, religion, or political affiliation is a force that drives these people from their homelands. El Salvador, a country that lost about 25 percent of its population to migration during its civil war, is … Continue reading DACA and the Dreamers from EL Salvador
By ANN MONTAGUE — LONDON — Every day here in Britain there is more news about the Windrush scandal. Workers arriving in the United Kingdom between 1948 and 1973 from Caribbean countries have been labeled the “Windrush Generation.” This refers to the ship HMT Empire Windrush, which first arrived in England in June 1948, bringing … Continue reading Windrush scandal exposes governmental racism in Britain
By LAZARO MONTEVERDE Declining empires are dangerous, and the U.S. is an empire in decline. If the U.S. ruling class can avoid the Thucydides Trap with China (the tendency for a declining empire to go to war with a rising empire), they still must face their own decline as the center of the capitalist system. … Continue reading No troops on the U.S.-Mexico border!
By MARTY GOODMAN As if 200 years of U.S. racism and imperialism weren’t enough, Haitians must contend with the idiotic rantings of the U.S. commander in chief, Donald Trump. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” asked Trump at a Jan. 11 immigration meeting. Trump was referring to Haiti, El … Continue reading Haitians denounce President Trump’s ‘shithole’ remark
By LISA LUINENBERG — ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Saturday, Jan. 20, close to 1000 people marched in 30-degree weather here to commemorate one year of struggle against the Trump administration. Responding to the call, “No Human Being is Illegal,” the marchers gathered outside of the Ramsey County Detention Center, which houses immigrants awaiting deportation. … Continue reading St. Paul immigrant-rights marchers say, ‘Stop all deportations now!’
By MARTY GOODMAN On Nov. 20, the Trump administration, after an election campaign based on anti-immigrant hate, ordered the expulsion of 60,000 Haitians living in the U.S. who arrived after the devastation of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, which killed over 200,000. Haitians who arrived by Jan. 2011 received Temporary Protective Status (TPS) under a 1990 law … Continue reading Donald Trump to 60,000 Haitians: ‘Get out!’
By MARTY GOODMAN “Go out of the shadows. Go out and fight.” — Amanda Morales-Guerra, Guatemalan immigrant Amanda Morales-Guerra, a Guatemalan immigrant living in New York City, faces deportation and separation from her three children, but she is not alone. Amanda has found sanctuary for herself and her three children within the Holyrood Church in … Continue reading Support grows for Guatemalan immigrant
By MARCO DAVILA Below is the presentation by Marco Dávila to the meeting in defense of public housing, on July 6 in the Glendale neighborhood of South East Minneapolis. For more information about the campaign in the defense of Glendale, visit the webpage: www.defendglendale.weebly.com . I’m just here to say: It feels good to be on … Continue reading Access to decent homes for everyone!
By MARK UGOLINI Democratic Party Mayors Eric Garcetti and Rahm Emanuel proudly declare that they run “Sanctuary Cities.” They claim that Los Angeles and Chicago offer “sanctuary” for immigrants; that local police will neither ask about immigration status, nor will they detain immigrants for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). These reassurances are phony, designed to … Continue reading No sanctuary for immigrant workers in Chicago and Los Angeles
By MARTY GOODMAN Beginning on May 19, thousands of textile sweatshop workers in Haiti walked off the job or laid down inside their textile assembly plants to protest their starvation wages. The workers are demanding a raise from $4.67 per day to $12.47 per day, a raise not tied to increased production quotas for workers. … Continue reading Haiti erupts in strikes and protests
By MARTY GOODMAN — NEW YORK — B&H Photo, the nation’s largest non-chain photo store, announced during contract negotiations plans to shut down two warehouses in Brooklyn and move facilities 75 miles away to Florence, N.J., by the end of the year. For 330 immigrant B&H warehouse workers who belong to the United Steel Workers … Continue reading NYC immigrants strike against union busting
By MARK UGOLINI — CHICAGO — Nearly 10,000 workers, immigration rights activists, and supporters took to the streets on May Day to demand legalization of undocumented workers; an end to terrorizing immigrant communities with raids on homes and workplaces; and an end to criminalization, mass incarceration, and deportations. (See a full list of demands at … Continue reading Chicago workers take to the streets on May Day
By GEORGE SHRIVER — TUCSON, Ariz. — Hopes & expectations were widespread on the eve of May 1, 2017, that the spirit of 2006 might be revived this year. In 2006, as many as 3 million or more undocumented immigrants and their allies poured into the streets on May Day, and the reactionary Sensenbrenner bill, … Continue reading May Day in Tucson: A tradition since 2006
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER Millions of people around the world took part in demonstrations on May Day. Actions included a general strike and mass march, backed by the major unions, to protest government austerity measures in Puerto Rico. This followed a huge general strike in Brazil two days earlier. The May 1 international day of working-class … Continue reading May Day marches: A show of unity
By CRISTOBAL CAVAZOS DuPage Immigrant Solidarity Coalition Although, ironically, immigrant detentions are slightly down as the Great Deporter in Chief Barack Obama leaves office, Donald Trump’s new immigration guidelines seek to go well beyond Obama’s, with the possibility of deportations of millions of documented workers. Immigration agents and police officials, who in their majority supported … Continue reading Grassroots immigrant rights struggle in Chicago area
By MARK UGOLINI Trump’s war on immigrant workers has moved into high gear as new orders unleash the full force of the U.S. government to greatly expand deportations, harassment, and provocative police actions in minority communities. Under Barak Obama, deportations reached a record high 434,000 for the single year 2014. Known as the “Deporter-in-Chief,” Obama, … Continue reading Trump escalates war on immigrant workers
By CELYNE CAMEN and KAREN SCHRAUFNAGEL Trump’s ban on Muslims, which tens of thousands protested at airports across the country, was the most recent escalation of an ongoing assault on the rights of Muslims and youth from Africa and the Middle East. This group has been targeted continuously at least since the beginning of the … Continue reading Clamp-down on Muslim immigrants: Trump makes Obama’s program worse
By MARCO DAVILA The reactionary white contingent in the United States has become braver with the recent arrival of one of their “own” in the White House. And at this point it has become clear that to underestimate Trump is an error. For Trump and his followers, Mexicans are to blame for most of the … Continue reading Mexico won’t pay for the Wall!
By KAREN SCHRAUFNAGEL Protests erupted throughout the United States and the world following President Trump’s stunning order that suspended entry into the U.S. by refugees and other travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa. Thousands demonstrated at airports and federal courthouses. Chants included: “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here!” … Continue reading Widespread protests challenge Trump’s anti-Muslim order
By KAREN SCHRAUFNAGEL To respond to the incoming Trump administration—overflowing with Islamophobes—will require a strategy for challenging Islamophobia on several levels. The first thing to note, however, is that Islamophobia, defined as the irrational fear and hatred of Muslims, is not technically the correct term for the oppression that Muslims are increasingly confronting. It is … Continue reading Say no to discrimination against Muslims!
By MARK UGOLINI — CHICAGO — Over 1000 immigration rights activists and supporters packed the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) hall on Jan. 14 to protest attacks on immigrants and refugees, and new Republican administration plans to continue and escalate harassment and mass deportations. The event was part of a National Day of Action for Immigrant … Continue reading National Day of Action: Immigrant rights supporters protest attacks
By KAREN SCHRAUFNAGEL MINNEAPOLIS—The show trial dubbed by our local capitalist media, “Minnesota’s Terror Trial,” ended in November with the sentencing of the nine young men (eight Somali and one Oromo) who pled to or were convicted of charges relating to alleged attempts to join the “designated foreign terrorist organization” ISIS (the Islamic State). The … Continue reading Somali youth sentenced in ‘Minneapolis Terror Trial’
By MARK UGOLINI — CHICAGO — On Aug. 29, the defense case of 69-year-old Palestinian rights activist Rasmea Odeh took an unexpected and potentially ominous turn when presiding Federal Judge Gershwin Drain ruled that Odeh will be subjected to up to 18 hours of intensive psychological testing by an appointed government forensic examiner whose job is … Continue reading Court issues new ruling in case of Palestinian rights activist Rasmea Odeh
