FASCIST ATTACKS WILL NOT DIVIDE US! FROM THE TWIN CITIES TO LA, THE STRUGGLE FOR MIGRANT RIGHTS INTENSIFIES!
We, the International Women’s Alliance, declare a resolute and unyielding stance against the fascist onslaughts being waged by the Trump regime against migrant workers and the oppressed masses. In the face of rising violence and brutality, we stand in solidarity with the thousands who mobilized on the streets of South Minneapolis to Chicago to Los Angeles last week, demanding justice, dignity, and the protection of migrant rights. State agents may try to stifle our voices with flashbangs, teargas, and pepper spray, but we will not be silenced and are resolved to carry on the fight to protect migrant workers in our community, all across the U.S., and around the world!
The kidnapping of migrants to meet a grotesque quota of 3,000 deportations a day is an attack not only on immigrant communities but on the very foundation of human rights. Every mother separated from her children, every mother forced to become a single parent and every child whose life is turned upside down by ICE is an attack against us all. These fascist tactics waged across all U.S. border regions, encompassing all major cities, and detention facilities, are a cruel and inhumane extension of the ruling class’s war on working people. Migrant workers are scapegoated, blamed for every ill in society, and used as a diversion to hide the true roots of the crisis: the exploitation of the working class and the enrichment of the billionaires at the expense of the many.
These so-called immigration policies are designed to divide us, to distract us from the reality of economic policies that enrich the super rich while the rest of us are left to fight over scraps. Trump's one big beautiful bill is a direct attack on the poor, the working class, and the migrant populations that make up the backbone of this nation. It gives more power, wealth, and resources to the billionaires who are already bleeding us dry.
This is the class basis of heightened fascism, a system that thrives on division, fear, and state sanctioned violence. They want us to fight each other, to blame migrants for our suffering, while the rich and powerful continue their plunder of our labor and resources. But we will not fall for their lies.
And we will not stop fighting.
On Tuesday, June 3, Twin Cities organizers and community members heard word of an ICE raid in the heart of an immigrant community in South Minneapolis. Over 40 officers were present, ranging in agencies from the FBI to DHS, HSI, ATF, DEA, and ICE. These officers were in military fatigues and brought tanks with them, but the people were not deterred. Protestors peacefully urged them to let their neighbors go, and these officers executed physical violence on them. Protestors were shoved to the ground, pepper sprayed, and shot with pepper ball guns.
They were heavily militarized and most of them were masked. As community members rose up in righteous anger, local law enforcement deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and pepper ball guns in an attempt to beat them back. In the following days, city officials tried to sow confusion by accusing protesters of jumping to conclusions, but we know that the sight of armored trucks full of militarized agents carrying rifles is not an unfamiliar one in Minneapolis, and the spirit of the George Floyd Uprising still lives on. Even while Minneapolis claims to be a sanctuary city, the Minneapolis Police Department was present. The city of Minneapolis cannot claim to be a sanctuary when actively harming its citizens. On that day, Minneapolis community members showed that they are ready and willing to defend their immigrant neighbors, even in the face of violent state repression.
Just yesterday, June 8th, the people took to the streets to resist the heavily militarized occupation of Los Angeles, which saw more that 2,000 members of the CA National Guard mobilized and threats from Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth to deploy even the Marines to suppress the people's movement. Those mobilizing included women and their children.
We saw a young girl, no more than ten, stand at the front of the march, hand in hand with her mother. Dressed in makeshift armor, a cut surfboard for a chest plate, a bicycle helmet on her head, and knee pads protecting her, she marched forward with determination, refusing to retreat in the face of state violence. Her courage is reflective of the role of women and families on the frontlines and the importance of people’s struggle now to resist escalating fascism.
Join IWA’s campaign to unite working class women across the country to Transform Fear into Fight! The people are resolved. The people are fighting back. We are calling on all workers, migrants, women, oppressed genders, and oppressed people to join the mass movement. Join an organization or build one! It is through our collective power that we will build the unity and strength to protect each other, resist fascism, and overthrow the systems of oppression that have plagued us for so long. We are the ones who create history. We are the ones who will change it. Together, we will dismantle this fascist regime.
Transform Fear into Fight! Rise up and join the Mass Movement! Join or form an organization! The people united will never be defeated! ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! Chinga La Migra! We keep us safe! Pride was a riot!