UE: Military Response to Immigration Protests a Step Towards Authoritarianism

Statement of the UE Officers

The Trump administration’s decision to mobilize and deploy 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles is disturbing and absolutely unjustified. It is an attempt to stifle dissent through military force — something which has no place in a democracy — and a signal that if we wish to preserve our democratic freedoms, working people will have to be prepared to defend them through action in the streets, in our workplaces, and at the ballot box. Furthermore, it is clear that the administration is seeking to create physical conflict during immigration raids in order to justify a military response.

Protests against raids by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the mass protests in Los Angeles over the past several days, have been overwhelmingly peaceful, especially considering the deliberatively provocative behavior of ICE agents. At a protest in Chicago last week, according to an eyewitness, “When [federal law enforcement] came on the scene, they gave no orders. They didn’t ask anybody to disperse. They didn’t give any instructions. They just immediately began using their batons to push.”

According to the lawsuit filed by the State of California against Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth, ICE agents in Los Angeles “engaged in military-style operations” which included “sealing off entire streets around targeted buildings and using unmarked armored vehicles equipped with paramilitary gear.” The Los Angeles Police Department was also deliberately provocative, showing up to the peaceful protests in riot gear and paramilitary equipment, shooting journalists with rubber bullets, and arresting David Huerta, the president of SEIU California.

The recent ICE raids in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere have targeted workplaces, reinforcing the reality that although Trump tries to portray all immigrants as criminals and terrorists, the overwhelming majority are workers. As our union and the rest of the labor movement have learned over the past half-century, the real purpose of immigration enforcement is to maintain a permanent underclass of workers afraid to stand up for their rights — which drags down wages and working conditions for all workers.

Deliberately provoking violence and then using the response to justify massive military crackdowns on civilian protest is one of the ways that democracies slide into authoritarianism. We know from the experience of other countries where the working class has defeated authoritarian governments that the labor movement, with our power to stop work, has an important role to play alongside mass mobilizations in the streets. If we prize our liberties and wish to maintain our rights, the labor movement and working people more broadly must denounce the unconscionable use of the U.S. military against our own people and prepare to engage in widespread nonviolent resistance if it continues.

Carl Rosen
General President

Andrew Dinkelaker
Secretary-Treasurer

Mark Meinster
Director of Organization

By UE Officers | Photo Courtesy of ueunion.org | UE News Reuse Policy