Americas News

The fascist military occupation of the Twin Cities, and communities throughout Minnesota, was opposed with a general strike on January 23 endorsed by a large and diverse coalition of organizations, including the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Rallies in solidarity with the general strike in Minneapolis were organized in various cities, including San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto, Los Angeles and New York.

On December 16, over 100 people from Bay Area faith communities shut down ICE’s San Francisco Field Office at 630 Sansome Street, chaining themselves across the two main entrances to stop ICE from kidnapping community members at their immigration check-ins. 630 Sansome also serves as ICE’s regional headquarters. Between Jan. 20 and June 26, 2,123 people were kidnapped by ICE in what they call the San Francisco "Area of Responsibility."

CrimethInc., subMedia and the Coordinadora Anarquista Tejiendo Libertad have prepared MERCENARIES, a video and poster campaign to counter ICE recruitment. They ask, "Please help us circulate these everywhere that people are at risk ... While Trump’s henchmen falsely claim that ICE is targeting 'criminals,' the real wrongdoers are those who are willing to do harm to their neighbors in return for a bribe."

In February 1975, construction work on Lee Road in Watsonville desecrated an Ohlone burial site, and bones and artifacts were removed by archeologists. When initial efforts failed to protect the sacred site, the cemetery was occupied by a group of armed local Native families, activists, and members of the American Indian Movement. John Malkin speaks with Patrick Yana-Hea Orozco, who played a critical role in the direct action at Wounded Lee.

On Halloween, San Francisco’s queer community marched down Market Street to the U.S. Immigration Court on Montgomery Street to counter tyranny with costumes and protest. The Halloween event first assembled at the Powell Street cable car turnaround, where banners were unfurled that read, "Queers for Open Borders" and "Fags, Dykes, We All Hate ICE." When the march arrived at the courthouse, the building was renamed the “ICE Abduction Center.”