Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Immigrant Rights

By Sophie Breen and Montana Hirsch

Minneapolis protest against vice president candidate Vance demands legalization for all.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Minneapolis, MN – On Monday, October 14 over 50 protesters gathered together on Indigenous People’s Day to tell Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance that he is not welcome in Minneapolis. Vance attended a private fundraiser in Minneapolis the same day, and held a press conference at the burned down Minneapolis former 3rd Precinct police station.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) as part of a national week of action called by the Legalization for All Network to stand with Haitian immigrants in the fight for legalization for all, in the face of the intensely racist anti-immigrant rhetoric spewed by right-wing politicians at every turn.

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By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).

MIRAC condemns the dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric from Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Republicans across the country who aim to advance one thing only—white supremacy.

The baseless accusations of Haitian immigrants consuming pets in Springfield, Ohio, is just another page in the long history of white supremacy in the United States. An openly neo-Nazi group, the Blood Tribe, is taking credit for the false rumors and celebrating the increased threats against immigrants. The armed neo-Nazis are not even locals—they invaded Springfield over a year ago with the goal of terrorizing immigrant communities. They have openly waved swastika flags in the air and waved their guns at local immigrants.

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By staff

Vilma Arias, a member of La Resistencia, holds a laptop as a detainee inside the NWDC addresses the crowd over the speaker system.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Tacoma, WA – Over 150 demonstrators gathered outside the Northwest ICE Immigrant Detention Center Sunday, September 1 to demand closure of the facility.

“We are here to show solidarity with those inside who are protesting their wrongful imprisonment,” said Rufina Reyes, director of La Resistencia. “We are here every day, but today is special because we are joined by the organization Tsuru for Solidarity, celebrating the resilience of their ancestors who survived the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.”

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By Esper Garcia

Minnesotans marching at the RNC.  | Brad Sigal/Brad Sigal Photos

Minneapolis, MN – On July 15, the Coalition to March on the RNC successfully brought more than 3500 protesters together in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to protest against the racist, reactionary agenda of the Republican National Convention. 100 of these protesters arrived on coach buses from Minneapolis organized by the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee and the MN Abortion Action Committee.

This convention is where Republican delegates met to choose their party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, known for his anti-immigrant and misogynistic statements and policies. The thousands of protesters from around the nation marched within sight and sound of the convention center, thanks to the Coalition’s years-long fight against the city for a militant march route.

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By Ryan Hamann

More than 3500 march on the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.  | Brad Sigal/Sigal Photos

Milwaukee, WI – After two years of work, the Coalition to March on the RNC culminated its efforts with a 3500-person rally and march on the opening day of the 2024 Republican National Convention. The Coalition was truly national in character, composed of more than 120 organizations representing all manner of social movements. The principle rallying cry of the broad united front was to fight against the racist and reactionary Republican agenda.

“The most visible figurehead of the Republican Party right now is Donald Trump, but we want to be clear: we are marching on the Republicans’ entire agenda. Our speakers today represent a broad movement against the entire Republican platform,” said Omar Flores, one of the co-chairs of the Coalition. “We are marching on every Republican state slashing funding for DEI initiatives in education, every Republican governor putting up more razor wire to militarize the Southwest border, every Republican voting for right-to-work bills, and every Republican signing bombs they are sending to Gaza.”

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By Carlos Montes

Participants in the LA press conference announcing local activists will join the RNC.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Los Angeles, CA – Immigrant rights activists with Centro CSO held a press conference July 9 calling for a protest on opening day of the Republican National Convention (RNC). The LA activists are sending a delegation and will travel and join a march and protest on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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By staff

Activists hold up the Aztlán flag as well as a banner that reads “Legalizacion para todxs, legalization for all! Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee”

Fight Back! is circulating the following statement by the Legalization for All Network (L4A).

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By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Step onto the stage of history in Milwaukee, July 15, as thousands march on the Republican National Convention.

More than 100 organizations are participating in this effort, spearheaded by the Coalition to March on the RNC, and mobilizations are taking place in cities across the U.S. As Trump is raking in money from billionaire donors and stepping up his campaign for the White House, it’s vital that all of was who support Justice, progress and peace should be in the streets raising the banner of opposition.

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By Erika Zurawski

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

By staff

Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC, announces a lawsuit to get march permit.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Milwaukee, WI – After a year of denied permits for their proposed march, the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 has filed a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee.

Along with a watered-down “free speech zone,” the city of Milwaukee has stoked repression by trying to implement “hard” and “soft” security zones around the Fiserv Forum, where the Republicans are planning to select their 2024 presidential nominee this July.

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