Hands Off Working Class Gente!

Hands Off Working Class Gente!

On Christmas Day, some South Florida residents left their homes and gifts behind to stand in the cold expressing solidarity with about 700 immigrants locked up at the Broward Center run by the for-profit Geo Group. The groups Joyful Resistance, Wilton Manors Indivisible and Resist Wilton Manors held up signs and chanted messages like “Injustice doesn’t take a holiday. Neither does resistance.” 

They are part of a growing movement by Americans of diverse nationalities opposed to the government’s fascist attacks on their migrant neighbors. A movement that has even reached into churches across the country. On November 14,  in Chicago, over 21 human rights protesters were arrested outside the Broadview Immigration Detention Center. The protest was led by religious leaders of all faiths whose aim was to conduct a peaceful prayer vigil. Yet the police had other plans. 

They do not respect the dignity of people of the cloth. In fact, the police continue to collude with Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( I.C.E.) even though Illinois is a sanctuary state. The National Catholic Reporter, not known as a bastion of liberal thought, published a recent article, “ICE again prevents Chicago Catholics from bringing Eucharist to immigrant detainees”. The clergy were denied providing pastoral care to those who have been detained, which is a slap in the face of religious freedom.

It is the same case across the country in detention centers. Denying freedom and dignity has been the hallmark of this administration’s policies.

UNITY INSTEAD OF DIVISION

While our political leaders are focusing on dividing us, the opposite is occurring. People, along with their faith leaders who may not agree on much, agree on the dehumanized treatment of our fellow brethren, proving that we all can unite to defend our working-class sisters and brothers from across the border and the working class of this country.

This protest was one of the largest ones, and they are only gathering more momentum. People are uniting in strategic resistance against I.C.E. to the kidnapping of hundreds of mostly brown people, with no criminal record. I.C.E. has kidnapped abuelas who sell tamales on our street corners and even high school students, often beating them to the ground. They have kidnapped citizens, including a daycare worker, in front of frightened children. They have killed at least two people in Chicago alone, people like Silverio Villegas-Gonzales, allegedly for resisting arrest.

These crimes against humanity are federally funded and federally approved, with agents aimed at terrorizing our communities. The increase in I.C.E. agents indicates a growing, dangerous fascism in our country. The suppression of religious freedom is taking a page from the fascist handbook while only allowing “Positive Christianity.” However, people are resisting and learning what true solidarity means. People of all stripes have organized Rapid Response Teams (R.R.T.s) across Chicago, as well as whistle campaigns to alert our neighbors that ICE is near. We the People are dedicated to protecting our neighbors, our friends and our people.

Public schools are organizing to meet the needs of undocumented individuals, indicating a movement steeped in compassion and justice. For example, the 19th Ward Mutual Aid, in coordination with a local church, collected food not only for those people no longer eligible for S.N.A.P., but also for the undocumented. “Hands Off Chicago” signs were being distributed along with anti-I.C.E. whistles.

On both a personal and organizational level, people are buying wares like tamales from vendors and distributing them to others in need. The buyers do this so the vendors can make some money and go home safely. Similarly, in Chicago’s Southeast Side neighborhoods, environmental justice activists, union members and other progressives formed robust R.R.T.s. With the aid of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (I.C.I.R.R.), they have organized in-person and online training on using mobile phone cameras and chat apps to record and communicate I.C.E. sightings and kidnappings. The R.R.T.s also distributed bilingual Know Your Rights cards to neighbors, landscapers, vendors, and merchants.

And the movement has gone beyond Chicago to support students and activists from North Carolina who have now felt the brunt of fascist attacks from I.C.E. These are growing, national, coordinated efforts where Chicago activists are sharing their wisdom with the North Carolina movement in defense of the undocumented. In fact, students organized a massive walkout numbering approximately 30,000 in response to the awful I.C.E. presence.

The movement to protect the undocumented is blossoming in beautiful ways to support those whose basic needs are not being met. Another commendable example is Chicago restaurants giving free food to former S.N.A.P. recipients. This growing movement is one steeped in compassion and justice.

A THREAT TO US ALL

The trampling on others’ rights is as old as the nation itself. But now the ruling class is actually replacing one form of state control by another. Their economic system will no longer provide enough jobs or meet people’s basic needs to keep them under control. This fascist attack is not just coming from Trump, as we can see this by the increasing disregard for the “rule of law” that has served the bourgeoisie for the last 250 years.

The mistake that the powerful make, time and time again, is to wish that the people will not rise up and fight against this indignity. By their deeds, the powerful are the biggest recruiters of working-class people into the struggle against their complete and utter disregard.

We need to organize a massive struggle so no one needs to suffer at the hands of the Gestapo tactics of I.C.E. If not stopped, this accelerating fascism will be followed by more state-sanctioned terrorism, not only against the undocumented, but against all of us. Instead, we can stop fascism, then move forward towards putting society’s wealth into the hands of the working class, so no one goes hungry, or is homeless or without healthcare.

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

– First They Came, a 1946 anti-Nazi poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

 

Published on January 5, 2026
This article originated in Rally!
P.O. Box 408002 Chicago, IL 60640 rally@lrna.org
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