NASHVILLE—“We can’t wait” was the sentiment expressed by members of the Indigenous People’s Coalition (IPC) who gathered here June 21 to oppose the anti-immigrant raids being staged by the Trump administration.
What those present can’t wait for is President Donald Trump’s removal from office. The longer he remains in the White House, they say, the greater will be the incalculable damage he can do. Every day that Trump is in office is one more day too long.
Addressing the deportation raids and a plethora of other issues hanging in the balance, the IPC held a press conference and community meeting on Saturday, June 21, at the Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church. The central theme was organizing against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting Latino people in Nashville, as such attacks are also attacks on Indigenous people.
The majority of immigrants from south of the border—from Mexico, Central America, and South America—are either ethnically Indigenous or of Indigenous descent. The gathering was well-attended by a broad multiracial audience, for in addition to Indigenous people there were also African American, Asian, Latino (Indigenous), and white supporters.
The press conference started with questions from the local media. One of the most striking posed by a reporter was: “What would you do about the immigration problem?” The answer was given with reference to the Indigenous rallying cry, “No one is illegal on stolen land.” The reporter was essentially told, there is no immigration “problem.”
Organizers told the press that the primary purpose of the meeting to strategize about how to best combat the continuing ICE arrests.
The meeting took note of the fact that for thousands of years Indigenous peoples have been crossing the so-called borders both north and south, but now the Trump government has sought to further criminalize such movement. Many of the Indigenous migrants are so ethnically Native that they only speak their aboriginal tongue.
The question also arose as to whether migrants would be safe from ICE kidnappings if they took refuge on Indigenous tribal nations reservations within the U.S. Would tribal sovereignty protect them?
Again, the IPC took a defiant stand in opposition to the ICE raids and also to the proposed anti-humanitarian bill of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee making it a crime to harbor or otherwise assist migrants in avoiding ICE deportations.
It was also brought out at the meeting that unjust and immoral laws have in the past been disobeyed. Notable examples were the Fugitive Slave Laws of the 1850s and the segregation laws that were deliberately disobeyed by the civil rights movement.
Since the ICE operations started in Nashville on May 4, at least 544 migrants have been detained in the city. The fascist detentions have not stopped but are now being conducted furtively with arrests at workplaces and at private homes.
The Indigenous meeting followed in the wake of the thousands protesting in the city at the “No Kings Day” demonstration the preceding Saturday, June 14. Thousands came out at Nashville’s Bicentennial State Park in the shadow of the Tennessee State Capitol for that rally. Despite gloomy, rainy weather, thousands upon thousands turned out to denounce Trump, his fascist government, and his Gestapo-style ICE raids.
In the meantime, the IPC meeting resolved to expand its networking resources to oppose ICE and advocate for the disobeying of unjust and immoral laws and to mobilize against Gov. Lee’s fascist bill, which is due to take effect on July 1, 2025.
The IPC, while focusing on the plight of Indigenous and Indigenous-descended immigrants, said it stands for the rights all oppressed migrants. It continues to stand by the principle that “an assault on the migrants is an assault on us all.”
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