BOYLE HEIGHTS, Calif.—Dozens of organizations and hundreds of activists gathered in historic East Los Angeles to convene the Emergency Southwest Summit Against Deportations. The mass coalition Legalization For All initiated the two-day Summit in the wake of Donald Trump’s continued attacks on the immigrant community.
The Department of Homeland Security told Newsweek that over 100,000 deportations have taken place already this year under Trump’s second term. For comparison, in Biden’s last year, he deported 271,000 people—the highest in about a decade. If these numbers are correct, Trump’s on his way to beating that decade record number from last year. There have also been over 600 students who’ve had their visas revoked—mainly targeting Palestinian solidarity organizers.
Locally, it was reported on April 10 that two ICE agents had attempted to gain access to elementary school students under the false pretence of conducting a wellness check. The school’s staff and educators denied them access and were taught Know-Your-Right procedures by Summit co-organizers Union del Barrio.
Other organizations featured were: co-organizer Centro CSO, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Teamsters, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, Oakland Alliance Against Police Repression, La Meza Nacional de Brown Berets, Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Committee for Solidarity with Peopl of El Salvador, Portland Contra la Deportaciones, Pierce County Immigration Community, Migrante, Proyecto Pastoral, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Eagle Pass Border Coalition, and more.
The Summit featured guest speakers such as famed immigration rights activist Elvira Arellano, labor and immigrant rights organizer Angelica Reyes, and Luna Baez, the daughter of currently imprisoned Jennette Vizguerra.
There were also panel discussions on coalition building, grassroots organizing, building solidarity, and organizing the fight against the Trump administration. There were workshops on community defense tactics, developing rapid response networks, fighting deportations, working towards sanctuary status, and organizing for May Day. Cultural performances in poetry readings by Viva Padilla, East Los Soul, and a Know-Your-Right skit performance by Teatro de Centro CSO also occurred.
The delegates from the organizations voted on two major resolutions. The first condemned the “anti-immigrant attacks and mass deportations” under Trump while calling for “united resistance” to “defend each other from all forms of state repression.” Ultimately, it calls for a commitment to “organizing, educating, and mobilizing in our communities” to develop “networks of resistance—community defense, rapid response, and grassroots organizing to confront these attacks…”
Finally, the second resolution called for a “powerful, united presence in the streets on May Day as we march for immigrant rights and workers’ dignity.” Finishing with “No human being is illegal! No more deportations! No more raids! Legalization for All!”
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