Click on the image to download a printable leaflet.
The threat is looming over all of Portland’s working people. Troops may be sent here any day now, as part of the assault on the basic rights of us all. Spearheaded by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the Border Patrol and other federal agencies kidnapping our immigrant fellow workers, the aim is to terrorize and silence the whole working class into submission. Donald Trump has declared war on Portland, but protests just seeking to mock the threat won’t stop it.
Right now, a flurry of judges’ rulings keeps everyone guessing. But one thing is certain: we can put no faith in the capitalist courts or politicians of either big-business party. Instead, Portland’s working class must bring out its own power – we need to use it now, or the hard-won rights of the whole working class will go down the drain. As federal agents seek to terrorize immigrants and the whole of the population, the Portland Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants calls on workers throughout the city to organize now for bringing out labor’s power to say All out for FEDS OUT!
The ICE building on SW Macadam Boulevard has seen busloads of detained immigrants arriving daily and stormtrooper-style units “guarding” the facility with rapid-fire pepper ball launchers and helicopter surveillance. We all know White House claims of “chaos in Portland” are a ridiculous pretext for turning the city into a “training ground” for U.S. military forces to trample the most fundamental rights. We’re already seeing that in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
Farce, frog suits and pajama parties outside the ICE jail won’t deter the sinister forces determined to intimidate us and destroy our communities. Against Trump’s power play, we need to organize in our unions, our workplaces, our schools, hospitals, working-class and immigrant communities for the mass mobilization of working-class power. And we need to do this now.
Hundreds of National Guard troops were sent to Chicago, but have been blocked by a temporary restraining order from being active on the ground. But meanwhile, masked federal agents have stepped up their rampaging through communities, carrying out gestapo-style immigration raids, ripping up families and workplaces. But people are fighting back, as thousands have marched against the feds’ police-state repression and community members are standing up to the ICE and Border Patrol thugs trying to arrest their neighbors.
In New York last week, feds’ kidnap squads targeted African and Asian street vendors while carrying out blatant racial profiling of passers-by. Against this, we keep seeing the courage of everyday people who seek to defend those targeted by ICE. This is inspiring, and such efforts are very important.
The politicians are relying on the courts, but any temporary reprieves will likely soon be overturned by Trump’s pliant Supreme Court. The power to actually turn back the hideous deportation machine and the mounting attacks on our rights is that of the multiracial working class whose massive power comes from this simple fact: everything runs on our labor.
The time is now for the workers of Portland to organize and use our power, saying: All out for FEDS OUT!
For more information, contact the Portland Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants
Whereas agents of the U.S. government arrested Mahmoud Khalil in New York City on Saturday, March 8, took him from his pregnant wife, and are holding him in a prison in Louisiana and are threatening to deport him from the U.S., and
Whereas Khalil is a legal permanent resident of the United States, and
Whereas Donald Trump and officials of his government have stated that Khalil is the “first of many” such legal residents they intend to deport, and
Whereas according to the government’s own statements, Khalil was arrested and his Green Card revoked as retaliation for his role as a spokesperson for student protests at Columbia University against the ongoing U.S. sponsored genocide of the Palestinian people, and
Whereas the arrest of Khalil and the threats of deportations of pro-Palestinian student protesters are an offense against everyone’s fundamental rights to freedom of speech and association, rights that are essential to our organization, therefore
Be it resolved that Painters Local 10 demands that Mahmoud Khalil be freed immediately, and
Resolved that Local 10 reiterates its call for labor action in defense of the besieged Palestinian people, and
Resolved that this resolution shall be published immediately and communicated to Mahmoud Khalil’s legal representatives.
Resolution approved by the members in attendance at the regular meeting of Painters Local 10 on March 19, 2025.
Resolution To Defend Immigrants Against Mass Deportations and Racist Violence Whereas, Trump’s planned immigration raids have stoked racist, anti-immigrant violence, and
Whereas, this goes together with his praise of billionaire Elon Musk’s strike-breaking, his stoking of divide-and-conquer bigotry and encouragement of violent far-right groups, and
Whereas, immigrant workers are a central part of labor, vital to our labor organizations, and their rights are inseparable from those of the rest of the working class, and
Whereas, a union is a self-defense organization for the working class as a whole, and
Whereas, attacks either from the government or from groups of racist thugs pose a danger to workers everywhere, and
Whereas, we cannot look to the government, the courts, politicians of either big-business party, or the police to protect immigrants from bigoted attacks, and
Whereas, it is the duty of the unions to defend our fellow workers against oppression and racist attacks, and
Whereas, an injury to one is an injury to all,
Therefore, be it resolved that IUPAT Local 10 will mobilize its membership to defend immigrants who are under attack either from government raids or racist groups, and
Be it further resolved that this body repudiates the vile attacks on immigrants and calls for the rest of labor to mobilize in defense of our fellow workers.
Adopted by the membership of Painters Local 10 at the regular business meeting held on November 20, 2024.
Resolution to Defend Immigrants Against Mass Deportations and Racist Violence
Whereas Trump’s planned immigration raids have stoked racist, anti-immigrant violence, and
Whereas this goes together with his praise of billionaire Elon Musk’s strike-breaking, his stoking of divide-and-conquer bigotry and encouragement of violent far-right groups, and
Whereas, immigrant workers are a central part of labor, vital to our labor organizations, and their rights are inseparable from those of the rest of the working class, and
Whereas, a union is a self-defense organization for the working class as a whole, and
Whereas, attacks either from the government or from groups of violent racist groups pose a danger to workers everywhere, and
Whereas, we cannot look to the government, the courts, politicians of either big-business party, or the police to protect immigrants from bigoted attacks, and
Whereas, it is the duty of the unions to defend our fellow workers against oppression and racist attacks, and
Whereas, an injury to one is an injury to all,
Therefore be it resolved, that PFSP 111 will mobilize its membership to defend immigrants who are under attack either from government raids or racist groups, and
Be it further resolved, that this body repudiates the vile attacks on immigrants and publicly calls for the rest of labor to mobilize in defense of our fellow workers.
Moved and adopted by the Membership on November 6, 2024
Contingent of “Transport Workers Against Deportations” at January 13 protest in Los Angeles against end of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for 200,000 Salvadorans and threat of deportation against them. Contingente de “Trabajadores del Transporte Contra las Deportaciones” en la manifestación del 13 de enero en Los Angeles contra la amenza de deportación de 200.000 salvadoreños tras el fin de su “estatus de protección temporal”.
Contingent of “Transport Workers Against Deportations” at January 13 protest in Los Angeles against end of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for 200,000 Salvadorans and threat of deportation against them. Contingente de “Trabajadores del Transporte Contra las Deportaciones” en la manifestación del 13 de enero en Los Angeles contra la amenza de deportación de 200.000 salvadoreños tras el fin de su “estatus de protección temporal”.
A Day Without an Immigrant and the Fight for Immigrants Rights
Panel Discussion with Class Struggle Workers – Portland
4pm Sunday May 21
at Cider Riot, 807 NE Couch St. Portland OR
For more information: cswp@csw-pdx.org or 503-303-8278
Donald Trump has picked up the title of “deporter-in-chief” where Barack Obama left off and run with it, from his reprehensible “Muslim ban” to his disgusting plan to expand the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. An upsurge of nationalist rhetoric combined with an onslaught of deportations and anti-immigrant measures has been met with protests.
The way to fight the racist bans on refugees and shut down ICE raids is to mobilize the power of the working class. Workers have the power to shut down raids and prevent deportations by mobilizing mass demonstrations backed by strike action.
A “day without an immigrant” is the beginning of what it would take, but the attacks on immigrant workers are a threat to the rights of all of us: the multi-racial working class must use its power together, demanding full citizenship rights for all immigrants. To fight Trump, it’s necessary to break with the Democrats, Republicans, and all capitalist parties, because the Democratic Party is a party of racist American capitalism just as much as the Republicans, and immigrant-bashing is a bipartisan obsession.
Hear reports from workers who have participated in this struggle and learn why the CSWP (Class Struggle Workers – Portland) says “An injury to one is an injury to all!”
These are dark days for immigrants, Muslims and their families, while the working class as a whole is under attack. Immigrants fear the unexpected knock on the door; children worry if their parents will be home when they return from school. Rumors of raids fly, sowing panic and confusion. Muslims and other religious minorities fear attack in their homes, at their mosques and workplaces or in public by fascistic terrorists incited by Trump’s deranged rants. And while significant numbers of workers voted for Trump because of the anti-worker policies of the Democrats, the Republicans (with the support of the White House) are pushing hard for a national “right-to-work” law aimed at destroying unions.
CSWP and IUPAT Local 10 banners at ICE Out of Oregon protest, 6 Mar 2017
It is urgently necessary for the power of the working class to be mobilized to stop the raids and deportations, to defend immigrants, black people and all those threatened by racist persecution, and to bust the would-be union-busters!
Since Trump inherited the formidable machinery of anti-immigrant repression constructed under the Obama administration, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has increased the number of arrests by about one third. Actual deportations have not yet reached the Democrat Obama’s record. First there was the “Muslim ban,” presently held up in the courts. Now the immigration police are ordered to go after anyone who “in the judgment of an immigration officer … pose[s] a risk to public safety or national security.” In other words, anyone who “looks” like they don’t belong in a racist’s fantasy-America. In his speech to the Congress, Trump promoted the “VOICE” initiative, a federal program designed to stir up xenophobic hatred by publishing a police blotter of crimes allegedly committed by immigrants. Then the government floated its sadistic intention to separate the children of refugees seeking asylum from their parents.
The government says that 680 immigrants were arrested in one week. One woman in El Paso, Texas was arrested by ICE at the local court house during a hearing in which she had sought protection against an abusive boyfriend. In Phoenix, Arizona, Guadalupe García de Rayos had lived and worked without papers in the U.S. for over 20 years, since she was 14 years old. She had agreed to voluntarily report to the immigration authorities twice a year in exchange for staying her deportation. But when she reported on 8 February, she was arrested. Hundreds of people, including her children, gathered at the ICE office and bravely sought to block the van that was taking her away.
In Montrose, Colorado, Bernardo Medina was kidnapped by ICE agents and imprisoned in a “detention facility.” Medina is a natural-born U.S. citizen, but ICE police told him “You don’t look like you were born in Montrose.” In Woodburn, Oregon, eleven agricultural workers on their way to the fields were taken by the ICE police on Feb. 24, with seven held in the Tacoma immigration jail and all scheduled for deportation. Muhammad Ali Jr., son of the legendary boxer, was detained and questioned for two hours about his religious beliefs at a Florida airport. Each day brings news of a new atrocity.
Locally, another case that has gained notoriety is that of Daniel Ramirez Medina, a 23 year old Mexican immigrant living in Seattle who was brought to this country as a child and has no criminal record. ICE took him and his father on 10 February. He was held in the Tacoma jail until March 29 on $15,000 bail. Ramirez Medina is a “Dreamer,” whose deportation was “deferred” under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program – until now. Near-daily protests have demanded his release, along with freedom for the thou- sands of other immigrants held there. Recently, hundreds of prisoners at the ICE jail in Tacoma are taking part in a rolling hunger strike, with daily vigils and rallies by their supporters outside.
Break ICE Terror With Workers Action!
What is happening here? The government – supported by Democrats and Republicans alike – whips up racist prejudice with its obsessing over crimes by those it declares “illegal.” Of course, one could just as logically publish a blotter of violent crimes allegedly committed by white men, or left-handed Lutherans aged 30-49, or any arbitrary category: what is at work here is the logic of racism and nationalist prejudice. In fact, undocumented immigrants are significantly less likely than U.S. citizens to commit crimes, particularly violent crimes. The sadistic, cynical “VOICE” initiative is copied directly from the Nazis, whose propaganda obsessed over “criminal Jews” in order to dehumanize an entire people. Every American is under the eye of a secretive state police (Geheime Staatspolizei in German), which can kidnap those it declares “illegal” and drag them before deportation tribunals: what we call “ICE” the Nazis called the Gestapo. And why not call the network of secretive “detention centers” by their right name: concentration camps where tens of thousands languish for months with no rights to speak of.
Dedication of “The Dockworker” statue in Amsterdam, commemorating the February 1941 general strike against Nazi deportations of Jews.
Trump is not a fascist. Neither was “deporter-in-chief” Obama, whose immigration policies are the basis and model for Trump’s. The reason for the similarities between the ugly official racism in fascist Germany and “democratic” America is the need of the ruling capitalist class to regiment the population for war abroad and police state at home by demonizing and attacking an “enemy within.” CSWP says to our fellow workers: we must not be neutral in this war of terror being waged against our neighbors and fellow workers. This assault on the rights of all of us must be defeated, and the working class – immigrant and native-born together – has the power to defeat it.
It is all the more necessary for the labor movement to take a clear and principled stand for full citizenship rights for all immigrants because the racist war on immigrants is demagogically sold to us by Democrats and Republicans alike as if it were in the interest of “legal” workers, with the lie that “illegal” immigrants are “stealing our jobs.” Nothing could be more false! “Illegal” undocumented workers’ wages and lives are cheaper for the bosses because they are discriminated against and oppressed, because they are cut off from the rest of the working class by official and unofficial prejudice. Under capitalism, no worker’s livelihood is secure, and the only way we can defend ourselves is to stand together and prevent the bosses from pitting us against each other. Today that means what point 7 of the CSWP program says:
“Fight racist discrimination and anti-immigrant prejudice in our unions. Mobilize labor’s power to stop deportations. Full citizenship rights for all immigrants. For union action to stop I-9 and ‘no match’ firings and ICE factory raids. No to racist ‘English-only’ laws or rules.”
By all indications this May 1 (International Workers Day) will be a big “Day Without an Immigrant” protest/strike, possibly similar to the historic protests in 2006 that revived May Day in this country. In March SEIU-United Service Workers West, the California mega-local, declared that it would strike on May Day, calling for a “general strike.” But when progressive union leaders and their leftist publicists speak of a “strike” or even a “general strike,” their aim is not to shut down production but to jazz-up a class-collaborationist protest/festival, and mobilize the “base” for the Democratic Party of racism and imperialist war.
A strike is not an individual choice to take an afternoon off for a protest march, but an organized deployment of specifically working-class power that strikes at the heart of the capitalist system, its profit-making machine. Workers seeking to organize such actions will often find that the first line of opposition facing them is not a line of riot police but the leading bureaucracy of their own organizations, committed to labor “peace” and class collaboration.
The Trump regime is as fragile as it is fearsome. But the Democratic Party’s “resistance” won’t bring it down. Democrats are partner parties with the Republicans in union-busting and immigrant-bashing. They just want union and Latino votes, and a war with Russia. The key is for the workers to unite and fight for our own class interests. Protests against deportation should be backed up by solid strike action. Already immigrant workers around the country risked their jobs to boldly take part in the 16 February “Day Without Immigrants.” They must not stand alone! Workers defense guards based on the unions must be prepared to defend mosques and immigrant communities. The anti-fascist mobilization resolutions adopted by a number of local unions are a step in this direction.
Above all, we need our own party, a class-struggle workers party to lead the militant defense of our rights. Such a party can only be forged in the struggle to break the workers organizations from the bosses’ Democratic Party, and drive out the pro-capitalist bureaucracy that chains the unions to this party of racism and war. This is the mission of CSWP. Join us! ■
CSWP urges all defenders of the rights of working people and immigrants to participate in the “ICE Out of Woodburn” protest scheduled for Monday, March 20, 4:30 p.m. at 2883 Newberg Highway in Woodburn, OR. For more information visit the Facebook event page for the protest.
This article from the London Guardian gives a vivid description of the cruel terror inflicted by the ICE Gestapo on our fellow workers.
February 28 – Educators and students gather in Brooklyn, NY outside meeting of Panel for Education Policy (PEP) to support and organize to defend our students.
This update from Class Struggle Education Workers describes some of the efforts being made by class-struggle unionists to defend immigrants at NYC public schools and universities. It’s time for unions in the Portland area to take similar measures.
Class Struggle Workers - Portland 