Nueva Democracia (Colombia): In the US, immigrant workers mobilize against threats from reactionary Trump

Featured image: Protesters waved flags of their nationalities of origin and were harassed, beaten and detained by the repressive forces; Source: Joel Angel Juarez, REUTERS

We hereby publish an unofficial translation of an article by Nueva Democracia:

During the first week of February 2025, thousands of immigrant and American workers mobilized in response to threats by the far-right Donald Trump, current president of the United States, to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history” of the country.

One of the mass events took place on Sunday, February 2, in Los Angeles, California, where thousands of protesters marched through strategic points in the city, such as Olvera Street, City Hall and US 101, one of the main highways in the metropolis.

The protests caused a media impact and alerted the repressive forces. The Highway Patrol was present, creating a cordon around the protesters, but they were not able to dismantle them until five hours later, when the protesters decided to end the event.

Other cities in the same state, such as Riverside, southwest of Los Angeles, were the scene of mobilizations by immigrant and solidarity groups. The population that was not taking part in the event, for its part, encouraged the protesters with whistles and harangues. The same occurred in the city of San Diego, which is close to the southern border of the United States, and in Santa Ana, also in southern California.

The next day, in addition to continuing the marches, millions of immigrants around the country participated in the boycott “A Day Without Immigrants.” This consisted of, for one day, migrants not going to work and abstaining from going out, especially from shopping, in the country’s large supermarket chains, some of which supported the election of the current president, such as the monopoly Walmart.

Small business owners in major cities across the country closed their shops for a day to join protests for the cause. In doing so, immigrant movements wanted to make their importance to the social and economic life of the United States visible.

More protests and boycott actions are expected throughout the month.

Immigrants are victorious

The country’s working-class communities are fighting the actions of ICE – the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement –, the agency (created by war criminal Barack Obama) that acts, in conjunction with other repressive forces, with the aim of intimidating, persecuting and detaining migrant families. As it has been denounced by the masses, the activity of this repressive force is based on the racial profiling of non-white workers, which has caused the harassment of even people from indigenous nations within the United States, whose history in the territory dates back to long before European colonization.

Activist groups have been spreading, through social media and leaflets, important information for the self-defense of families in danger of being detained. They have instructed migrants on the right to demand arrest warrants signed by a judge; to not open the door of their homes to agents; to remain silent in the face of tricky questions about their immigration status, among other measures. In a press interview, the ridiculously proclaimed “border czar” Tom Homan confessed that his job of pursuing migrants is being very difficult because the masses are “very educated, they have been educated on how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE… they call it: ‘Know your rights.’ I call it: how to avoid being arrested.”

Imperialism fails

In recent years, the atmosphere has been turbulent for the Yankee ruling classes, who now, led by the reactionary Trump, are invoking an “invasion” of the country, wanting to alienate American workers so that they will confuse their enemies. Therefore, the current policy not only seeks to “combat illegal immigration” but to outlaw many more immigrants present in the territory, as demonstrated by the government by removing various mechanisms such as TPS —Temporary Protection Status— or the CBP One application, which, before this administration, had been provided to millions of immigrants for the sake of their regularization.

In the context of the class struggle, the real objective is to place these workers from all over the world, mainly from oppressed nations, present in the country, in a more vulnerable situation in terms of rights, in order to favor their hyper-exploitation by the imperialist bourgeoisie. A bourgeoisie that is harassed, in its own country and across the globe, by the rapid collapse of imperialist capitalism and the intelligence, strength and courage of the peoples of the world struggling for their rights, envisioning a future without exploitation and oppression.