Feature Archives

A weekend of No Border actions in San Diego confronted the racist groups attempting to mount vigilante border patrols in California. On 9/17, a group of around 50 demonstrators interrupted a "Friends of the Border Patrol" training session, tore down the registration table and flag and entered the hall chanting "No Borders, No Racists, No Borders, No Nations" and "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us." On 9/18, a No Border March converged on the border from both north and south at Calexico, about two hours east of San Diego.

The protests to date have been so effective that the Friends of the Border Patrol has been nearly sent into hiding, with signs at their training indentifying it as a bird watching group. Minutemen volunteers, who sported t-shirts reading "Undocumented Border Patrol," reacted violently towards protesters, even tackling and jumping on one demonstrator. The California Minuteman group has now reportedly delayed its planned border patrols due to low turnout and "safety" concerns.

Meanwhile, on 9/16, a bay area coalition called "Deporten a La Migra" headed to Sacramento to march on the State Capitol and Attorney General's office, condemning the racist vigilantes terrorizing the border. St. Peters' Housing Committee, SF Day Labor Program, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, CARECEN, Heads Up Collective, CISPES, and Just Cause Oakland all sent delegations to present their demands to Schwarzenegger and Lockyer. Report and Photos from Bay Area Coalition to Fight the Minutemen | Reflections by a bay area no-borders activist | Report from Deporten a La Migra | Coverage at San Diego Indymedia

Beginning on September 16th, people will converge on the San Diego/Tijuana region and the Mexicali/Calexico region of the Mexico/US border "to stop the vigilante operation being planned there by the Friends of the Border Patrol." The call to action encourages people who cannot make it to the border to organize solidarity actions in their home towns, rejecting "the Minutemen, Borders and the racist ideologies that Borders are built on." Read more

Organizers' goal for September 16th-18th is to take action and directly shut down the Minutemen operations. The o.r.g.a.n.i.c. Collective, Anarchist Action San Francisco, and the San Francisco Bay Area Anti-Minutemen Coalition are seeking additional endorsers to the call to action.

Delete the Border | Organic Collective

A (no)Border Encuentro is scheduled for August 27th and 28th in San Diego. A bus to San Diego will leave San Francisco at 10pm on Friday night. For those who are unable to go to San Diego, the CELLspace Film Cluster and the Borderland Film Collective will present a screening of border-related films at Cell Space at 7pm on Sunday, August 28th.

As millions of people are forced to live underground, more than 3200 are dead, and tens of thousands more are incapacitated crossing the border, racist paramilitaries are openly organizing across the US and finding partners in politicians and corporate media outlets alike. There is a great deal of organizing around border and immigration issues. One "small contribution to this struggle for liberation and dignity, (is) the (no)border encuentro in San Diego." Organizers hope that it will "truly be an encounter, with many people sharing space, dreams, ideas and strategies." They ask that people who plan to attend the (no)Border Encuentro RSVP so they know who and how many poeple are coming.

The weekend will include a Maquiladora/Border Tour, a benefit concert with the Bay Area's Entartete Kunst as well as Southern California hip hop and break-beat dj's, a Café Anarquista, a workshop about the history of the border, direct action training, an anti-minutemen training session, and more. Read more

Delete the Border.org | Organic Collective | San Diego Indymedia | Arizona Indymedia | Tijuana BorderHack, Sept 2-4

Community groups from Northern California and allies came together on Wednesday, August 17th to have an action to send a message to legislators in Sacramento that immigrants have a right to an unmarked driver's license, and to respond to the Governor's open invitation to the vigilante group the "Minutemen."

The protest gathered at 24th and Mission Streets at 9:00am on Wednesday, August 17th for a rally, and then formed a human chain down to Cesar Chavez Street. Read more This event will took place at the same time as a press conference in Sacramento held by representatives from various Northern California communities.

During the week of July 16th in Campo, east of San Diego on the U.S.-Mexico border, a Strategy Campout was established by Gente Unida and local activists participated in disrupting the activities of the Border Patrol Auxiliary, a spin-off of the racist vigilante group the Minuteman Project, which had set up shop in town for the weekend. Anti-racists used high-power spotlights and spoke to the vigilantes through sound systems in order to advertise their location and prevent their snipers from hearing the movement of migrants. San Diego anti-racism groups are mobilizing people around the country to head to San Diego to stop the larger Minuteman operation on Sept. 16th, coinciding with Mexican Independence Day. Full report | San Diego Indymedia

7/10/2005: Over 200 immigrants and supporters convened on the State Capitol on Wednesday (July 6, 2005) to demand drivers licenses without special markings to undocumented residents and to oppose border vigilantes in California.

Over 200 immigrants and supporters convened on the State Capitol to demand drivers licenses without special markings to undocumented residents and to oppose border vigilantes in California. They met inside with State Senator Gil Cedillo to demand no special markings on the licenses, and then held a press conference at the steps of the Capitol while a group of up to ten citizens practiced civil disobedience at the Governor’s office.

Two buses of immigrants from San Francisco and dozens more from the Northern California area met with State Senator Cedillo in a crowded meeting room inside the Capitol to talk about the driver license legislature. In this session immigrant workers and families expressed their strong opposition to the proposed markings on the drivers licenses to undocumented residents. “We do not want markings, we are not animals,” chanted a day laborer from San Francisco. Senator Cedillo seemed to agree but could not guarantee passage of the driver license legislature without such marking. Similar legislature has been vetoed by Governor Schwarznegger once already, and he is expected to do so again if the marking isn’t included. The State Bill SB60, introduced by Cedillo, awaits a hearing later this summer.

See the full story HERE | Radio interview

On Wednesday June 22nd, at 7:00 PM, there will be a Strategizing Meeting to Fight the Minuteman Project. It will take place at New College, 777 Valencia, Room 4 (between 18th and 19th Streets). Following the lead of activists in Southern California who support immigrants' rights, people in the Bay Area will come together to attempt to formulate a plan of resistance to counter "those who would divide us with borders and selectively proclaim some human beings as 'illegal.'” Read more

In April, under the rhetoric of fighting terrorism and protecting the economy, the Minuteman Project, which is an armed and racist vigilante organization, organized patrols of the Arizona border with Mexico. These right-wing, anti-immigrant activists and their allies are now expanding the border patrol project to New Mexico, Texas and California. In California, one patrol is scheduled to begin on July 18th, another on September 16th (intentionally scheduled on Mexico’s Independence Day), and a third patrol will be held in October.

One action that will likely be discussed is BorderHack, which will take place along the US/Mexico border from August 3rd-7th this year.