Wednesday, July 23, 2025

CBS Participates in the Consolidation of fascism i...

Choosing Democracy: CBS Participates in the Consolidation of fascism i...: CBS is participating in the consolidation of fascism in the U.S. https://www.npr.org/2025/07/02/nx-s1-5454790/cbs-settlement-trump-60-minute...

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Armed Secret Police arrest immigrants in Sacramento

Choosing Democracy: Armed Secret Police arrest immigrants in Sacramento:   https://www.kcra.com/article/border-patrol-raid-home-depot-florin-road-sacramento/65440117?

Armed Secret Police Arrest Citizen and others in Sacramento.

 

Dear CA Community,

WE NEED YOU TO SHOW UP AGAINST the ICE Detention EXPANSION PROPOSAL IN CA CITY in Kern County on July 22nd at 5 pm! 

Location: City Hall, 21000 Hacienda Blvd., California City, CA 93505

The Trump administration, ICE and CoreCivic are trying to open a new ICE detention in the city, read more here. If this is realized, this will be the biggest ICE immigrant detention center in California with a capacity of 2,304 beds! After Congress allocated $45 billion in funding for detention expansion, the Trump administration is moving aggressively to try to open this facility by August/October. We know more detention will mean more raids targeting farmworking communities and other immigrant communities across California. 

The Dolores Huerta foundation has been mobilizing the community and needs our support. 

If you are planning to attend RSVP here: bit.ly/cacity622 

(to better coordinate and keep track of our collective power to push against this proposal) 

There might be an opportunity to join the city council meeting over zoom but we won’t know until the day of the meeting, you can still register and mark virtual attendance to make sure we notify you.  In-person participation is highly encouraged! 

Since the last time we attended the city council meeting, a planning commission has been appointed. We know the city is feeling the heat and we must continue to push them to take a stance against the expansion and deny any permits required for the proposal to move forward! 

Updated flyer coming and talking points will be shared closer to the meeting. 


Monday, July 14, 2025

Choosing Democracy: Who Are ICE - Political Police officers >

Choosing Democracy: Who Are ICE - Political Police officers >:   In Long Beach, California, off-duty Border Patrol agent Isaiah Hodgson was arrested and charged with resisting officers, injuring an offic...

Strategy Against ICE-Secret Police

 Indivisible at work.

Yesterday, I protested outside an ICE detention facility and visited with an Indivisible member detained there. As I covered last week, with the passage of the Big Bullshit Bill, ICE is now the largest law enforcement agency in the country. So I want to tell you about my experience this weekend because I think a lot of us -- especially us white, native-born Americans -- are going to need to get better acquainted with these secret police headquarters in the weeks and months to come. 

Ezra speaks at a protest outside the detention center in Tacoma. A banner reads: Immigrants make America great.

This action took place as part of Washington state’s statewide convening in Tacoma. Across the country, we’re seeing Indivisible statewide groups host these types of statewide convenings to bring local Indivisible groups together, build connections across the movement, and develop strategic plans for coordinated local, state, and federal action. If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at Washington’s agenda

At their two-day convening, Washington state Indivisible group leaders heard from their state and federal elected officials, trained on responding to ICE by local immigrant rights groups, and co-designed campaigns to put into place at the local and state levels. I sat in on a campaign strategy breakout session on “demasking ICE” -- when Indivisible groups around the state started planning a local and state campaign to use their blue-state and blue-city power to push back on Trump’s secret police force.

One member of Indivisible Skagit was notably not present: Lelo. You can read about his story in The Guardian. Lelo is a farmworker, organizer, and community leader. He joined Indivisible Skagit to help link the Indivisible world with the farmworker world. But he was detained earlier this year when an ICE agent broke the window of his car with his wife in the passenger seat and forced him out. He’s been held in the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for the last 111 days. 

While a crowd gathered outside -- singing, chanting, and playing music in solidarity with Lelo -- I visited with him in this privately-run detention center, a dystopian scene in a remote part of Tacoma. I asked Lelo if he had a message to share with those gathered outside and the many more he knew were rooting for him. He did, and it was simple: “Keep paying attention, keep organizing.”

Just as we were getting ready to hit send on this newsletter, we learned that Lelo had opted for “voluntary” departure to Mexico due to the inhumane conditions at the detention center. The cruelty here really is the point.

In a statement today, Lelo committed to remaining in the fight for justice wherever he ends up. And he urged all of us to do the same: 

“I encourage everyone to stay strong and keep fighting. There are many actions that you can be part of, for example show up at a protest, attend your city council meetings. Use your First Amendment right. Talk to your Representatives, let them know your concerns.”

I’m furious at what this vicious regime is doing to Lelo. And I also know they’re doing it to thousands of others. This regime is ripping people away from their families, tearing communities apart, disappearing our parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends to unimaginable conditions in camps here and abroad. 

You can contribute to Lelo's legal fund here. And I hope you’ll follow his advice to keep organizing, and keep taking action. We’ve got a number of to-dos below and I especially want to pull out #2 on the list -- our One Million Rising series on strategic non-cooperation. That’s Wednesday, and we’ll have a special What’s the Plan on Thursday with authoritarianism expert Erica Chenoweth (of 3.5% fame) as a guest. If you’re looking for next steps -- this is it. 

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible


Your weekly to-dos

  1. Prepare to march this Thursday at a Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action near youEach day brings new attacks on our rights as the Trump regime chips away at our democracy. But in the tradition of the late John Lewis, Americans across the country will rise up this Thursday in a mass, nonviolent demonstration for freedom and justice. 
  2. Learn the tools of strategic non-cooperation to fight authoritarianism at our One Million Rising training series beginning this Wednesday. There’s no escaping it; Trump and his enablers are becoming bolder and our slide toward authoritarianism is accelerating. With institutions failing to meet the challenge, it falls to us -- the pro-democracy majority -- to defeat fascism. Join this training to help lead the fight within your networks and pass on these skills to others. 
  3. Contact state and local Dems to demand action against masked ICE abductions. If you live in a blue city or state with a Democratic trifecta, your Democratic governor, mayor, and lawmakers have the power to stop secret police tactics like abductions by masked ICE agents. Our Blue State Defiance toolkit helps identify who to contact and what to call for.

Thursday, July 03, 2025

GOP Budget Bill Would Make ICE "Largest Federal Law Enforcement Agency i...

Benjamin Barber and PPC Repond to Republicans Deadly Bill

On Thursday, July 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the President's Big Ugly Destructive Deadly domestic policy bill, which authorizes the largest cuts to America's safety net, stripping Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other vital services from millions of poor and low-wealth Americans. Bishop William J. Barber, II, President & Sr. Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, released the following statement in response to today's actions by Congress. 

"Today, Congress passed one of the most morally-bankrupt pieces of legislation in our nation’s history. This big ugly bill is the largest cut to healthcare and food assistance for children in our nation’s history, and it funds a war on immigrant communities. All the while, the bill gives tax breaks to the wealthiest among us—on the backs of our most vulnerable neighbors."

“By passing this bill, lawmakers have officially codified the deaths of thousands of people. It’s policy murder in plain sight."

“Many of the people who passed this bill also consistently profess to be led by religious values. There is no religion that supports the degradation of humans. Policymakers can’t just claim their religious values in one breath, and then turn around and approve legislation that’s guaranteed to kill people."

“The passage of this bill is deadly, but it is not a defeat. We must meet it with a resurrection. We will organize voters in every impacted community to push legislators who voted for this bill out of office and build a movement together that can reconstruct our democracy."

 

Even as we grieve a decision that will hurt all of our communities, we know the moral movement that can reconstruct America must come out of the communities that will hurt first and worst. That’s why we’re taking our Moral Mondays to Memphis, Tennessee and Congressional offices across the South on Monday, July 14. Please help us spread the word.  

 

Visit: https://breachrepairers.org/get-involved/news/bishop-barber-responds-to-congress-passing-a-deadly-budget-bill/ 

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

LULAC Condemns Trump Immigration Agenda

 


LULAC CONDEMNS PASSAGE OF HARMFUL SENATE BILL THAT THREATENS WORKING FAMILIES AND TARGETS IMMIGRANTS ACROSS AMERICA

Nation's Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Warns that "One Big Beautiful Bill" Threatens Economic Stability and Deepens Inequality for Millions of Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) today issued a strong statement of concern following the U.S. Senate's narrow passage of the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," which advances sweeping tax cuts and domestic policy changes that disproportionately harm working families, especially the Latino community and millions of others who form the backbone of the American economy.

 

https://lulac.org/m/U2FsdGVkX1_Q0XsLu6ylh42p0032bKkkMcsQAewbRoJGT8WVZAmnYN3mfUCo7J2LBDFFkrbiuRA