Labor's Gotta Play Hardball to Win!

For Workers Action to Stop
Mass Deportations

It's dark. Your family is sleeping. Then, pounding on the door. Heavily armed, masked men are outside.

“ICE agents. Open the door!”

In neighborhoods across the country this scene is playing out daily as the new administration ramps up its operations to carry out Republican president Donald Trump’s campaign threat to carry out the biggest mass deportations in U.S. history. It is a war on the working people of this country, tearing apart the social fabric of innumerable communities.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) police and other federal “law enforcement” agencies including the Federal Protective Service, Border Patrol under the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency are being enlisted in this monstrous crime.

These agencies, often in with the aid of local cops and sheriffs, are using police-state measures that are blatantly illegal, denying people any kind of due process although that is a constitutional right of every person in the United States. These operations are an assault on the rights of all. And they are being carried out without any opposition from the Democratic Party.

Both of the two capitalist parties that alternate at the helm of U.S. imperialism are partners in the crime of exploiting, oppressing and deporting hard-working, poorly paid immigrants who make up a huge portion of the workforce. Undocumented immigrants and their families number up to 15 million people. And now they are deporting immigrants with legally protected status.

The Internationalist Group has called for workers action to stop the deportations, and together with Class Struggle Education Workers, Class Struggle Workers Portland and the Revolutionary Internationalist Youth, we have launched efforts to enlist unions in the fight for immigrants’ rights and to form committees to defend immigrants in schools and workplaces.

Scenes from the Mass Deportation Horror Show

There is rampant fear among in immigrant communities across the U.S., where those without documents toil and raise families, paying almost $100 billion in taxes yearly while under threat of deportation. Parents afraid to take their kids to school. Sick people afraid to seek medical care. Trump has vowed that there’ll be no sanctuary in hospitals, churches, schools or anywhere else.

Planeloads of immigrants are being summarily deported to El Salvador, to be stuck in a huge “anti-terrorist” dungeon. Trump claims they are all criminals who are a threat to U.S. citizens. It is a lie. A large portion of the hundreds sent to that hell hole are working people with families in the U.S., and according to journalists’ investigations few have any criminal record at all.

Some detentions are like out of a dictatorship, as when they seized Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil entering the door to his apartment building with his eight-month pregnant wife. Others resemble a terrorist operation, as masked agents grab Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk on the street and shove her into a car that drives up and speeds off.

Others are full-scale military operations, like when federal agents staged a raid on Cedar Run Apartments in Denver, Colorado on February 5. A Denver minister was an eyewitness:

“The sprawling apartment complex, home to dozens of immigrant families from Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, and Central America, was on lockdown. Officers with ICE and the FBI stood guard, heavily armed. Some wore face masks. Dozens of trucks — including armored vehicles resembling tanks — blocked the area, making it look more like a war zone than a Denver neighborhood.

–Denver Post, 24 February

In a workplace raid on a Italian restaurant in San Diego, California, videos show “armed and masked agents in full tactical gear swarming the area” (NPR, 31 May). A crowd gathered “filming and yelling in protest, surrounding cars and detention vans” until a flash-bang grenade exploded. The DHS agents handcuffed all the workers, and ended up detaining several.

And they are showing up at schools and shelters to do “wellness checks” on immigrant children. The first New York City student known to be detained, a Venezuelan name Dylan, was seized on May 21 at what was supposed to be a hearing on his asylum petition. The new ploy is for administrative judges to reject petitions and I.C.E. agents grab the person on the spot.

The marauding federal agents are not only trampling on immigrants’ rights, they are going after any officials who get in their way, part of Trump’s war on “sanctuary” cities and states. On April 25, a courageous Wisconsin judge, Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI for allegedly helping an immigrant evade arrest.

On May 9, New Jersey Democratic congresswoman LaMonica McIver was arrested for seeking, along with other officials, to inspect an I.C.E. detention facility. And on May 28, DHS cops stormed into the office of Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler and handcuffed an aide, accusing staffers of “harboring rioters” who witnessed detentions of immigrants in the building.

While Trump issues one decree after another, federal agents are acting with impunity to enforce his deportation program using the absurd claim that they were alien enemies invading the U.S. Some federal courts have temporarily blocked deportations using this subterfuge, but the immigrants are still detained, and the government has violated several of these court orders.

Committees to Defend Immigrants Formed

The Internationalist Group and fraternally allied organizations have been organizing in the labor movement and among its allies to form committees to defend immigrants in schools and workplaces. In addition, on May 29, we brought over 40 people to a protest at the NYC Department of Education over the detained Venezuelan student, calling to “Bring Dylan Home.”

In the Pacific Northwest, Class Struggle Workers – Portland put forward a “Resolution to Defend Immigrants Against Mass Deportations and Racist Violence” which was passed by six area unions. Also, on March 19, Painters Local 10 called to free Mahmoud Khalil. A Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants has formed and on April 5 held a “know your rights” workshop in the local AFL-CIO building.

In New York, as reported in the last issue of The Internationalist (No. 74, September-December 2024), the Internationalist Clubs at the City University of New York (CUNY) initiated Committee to Defend Immigrants at Hunter College. The Clubs called protests in late February that forced DHS/ICE to call off a recruiting session at a CUNY campus.

In New York City public schools, supporters of Class Struggle Education Workers (CSEW) in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) have taken the lead in building union chapter-initiated Committees to Defend Immigrants in a number of schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.

These committees have worked with parents groups to provide information on immigrants’ rights, including making and distributing hundreds (and at one Brooklyn school, over 1,000) of “red cards” explaining that they have the right not to talk to immigration police. At one school, the committee held a demonstration on March 6 to keep I.C.E. out of the schools.¹

A supporter has put forward a motion in the UFT Delegate Assembly that calls for chapters to initiate school-based immigrant defense committees and, noting that one can’t look to the courts, the government or Democratic or Republican politicians to stop deportations, calls on all of labor to mobilize its power in defense of immigrants. The resolution ends:

“These are our students, our fellow workers, our neighbors, and we will act to support them in this, their hour of need, and always. We will not let them take our students.”

As previously reported, on December 16, a preliminary NYC-area Labor Conference to Defend Immigrants was held in Midtown Manhattan, attended by activists and organizers from a range of unions and community groups. These included American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Dis­trict Council 37, Teamsters (IBT), Transport Workers Union (TWU), Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), Laundry Workers Center (LWC), UFT, CSEW, Trabajadores Internacionales Clasistas (TIC), SEIU Local 32BJ, UAW/ALAA, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY and others.

A second conference was held on January 9, with more than 70 members, organizers and officers from unions, worker-organizing and immigrant-rights groups present. These included the Amazon Labor Union (ALU-IBT Local 1); Teamsters Locals 25, 251, 814, 804 and 808; Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA); CBTU; Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1180; AFSCME DC37; LWC; SEIU Locals 32BJ and 1199; PSC-CUNY; TWU Local 100, UAW Local 2179, and the UFT.

With Trump’s threatened mass deportations looming starting on Inauguration Day, January 20, there was a felt urgency to organizing now to bring the power of labor to bear in defense of immigrants, their families and communities. Charles Jenkins of the TWU and CBTU emphasized that defense of immigrants’ rights “is a working-class issue,” connecting the exploitation of immigrants to the history of enslaved Africans, and stressing the need for unity of all workers, native and foreign-born against divide-and-conquer tactics.

After a spirited discussion, the assembly broke into several working groups including construction and building workers, education, healthcare, hospitality, transport and warehouse workers, students, and outreach. The conference then reconvened with reports of the different working groups' discussions. The Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants (LCDI) was established by a unanimous and enthusiastic vote. It was also decided to build for an ongoing labor contingent in defense of immigrants and against deportations

On February 13, the NYC Labor Committee met again, this time with more than 100 attending. Especially noteworthy were reports from the transport/warehouse and education working groups. A Teamster reported on speaking at a Local 804 meeting after which more than 50 members signed up to join the LCDI. The Local president emphasized the importance of organizing the unorganized, e.g. at Amazon, and linking this to the defense of immigrants, as immigrant workers may be hesitant about joining a union for fear of deportation.

By the time of that meeting, a 75-page LCDI Immigrant Rights Defense Packet had been issued, hundreds of copies of which have been distributed in the New York area. The pamphlet contains “Know Your Rights” material in English, Spanish, Haitian Kréyol, French and Arabic. It was also noted that the Professional Staff Congress, representing CUNY faculty and staff, has organized an Immigrant Solidarity Working Group. And Brother Jenkins reported that he was pushing for the Municipal Labor Council to center a May Day march on defense of immigrants.

The LCDI met again on April 29, on the eve of May Day. In opening the session Sándor John, a PSC delegate and supporter of the CSEW, noted how the government is now going after universities and reported on an April 17 rally “for the right to learn” and against the attacks on higher education. Chris Silvera, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 808, underlined that the fight to defend immigrants is a key part of a huge struggle: “They’re going after you, they’re going after your Social Security. We’re in a battle, and if we lose it, we’re back in slavery.”

The Labor Committees to Defend Immigrants have stressed the necessity and urgency of mass mobilization based on the organizations of the working class in the fight to stop deportations. As the raids escalate and the horror of militarized police marauding around the U.S. hunting down immigrants sinks in, there will be a reaction. But facing the juggernaut of a government using police state measures, it is key that the response go beyond spontaneous reactions to atrocities and bring the organization and power of the organized workers movement to bear, in the streets, at the point of production.

On May Day, Internationalist contingents in New York, Portland, Oakland and Los Angeles marched together with contingents of the Committees to Defend Immigrants (see article on page 18). In carrying out this intensive work in the working class, the IG and fraternally allied organization are providing a way for people to struggle against the catastrophe that is upon us, at a time when liberals, labor and the left are largely paralyzed, or going through the motions, doing the same old, same old.

As Becca Lewis of the CSWP put it, “It's become very apparent to us doing this work that there is a gaping chasm of leadership right now. Labor must rise to the occasion. That is the only thing that is going to get results, if we're able to do real shop floor organizing…. Ultimately the crisis of immigration is not going to be solved under capitalism. The only way to solve the problem is an international workers revolution.”

It is through initiatives like the fight to build the Committees to defend immigrants that we can forge a genuinely revolutionary workers party in the heat of the class struggle. ■

To contact the Internationalist Group and the League for the Fourth International, send e-mail to: internationalistgroup@msn.com

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