Chicago Mayor Calls for National General Strike; Los Angeles Trade Unionists Speak Out

On Pacifica’s CRD, Chicago Mayor Calls for National General Strike; Los Angeles Trade Unionists Speak Out on No Kings Day; Attorney Andrew Rankin on Daca, TPS and Defense of Immigrant Rights
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy - October 20, 2025

The Trump administration has inspired some of the largest mass demonstrations in the history of the United States. Crowds have been especially large and angry in Chicago, where ICE and the military have launched massive attacks on immigrants and even landed a Black Hawk helicopter on a building to terrorize an entire community.

At the “No Kings” rally on October 18, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that people of the United States are facing a fascist government and that ICE is the personal fascist gang of President Trump. He called for a national general strike against the Trump government to stop these attacks.

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Los Angeles has faced massive attacks by ICE agents and the National Guard and US Marines. Los Angeles Roofers Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s call for a nationwide general strike.

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Thousands of people rallied in Los Angeles on No Kings Day and spoke out. KPFK’s Peter Ross spoke to some of the trade unionists about why they were there.

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Memphis based immigration attorney Andrew Rankin speaks to CRD’s Thomas O’Rourke about the legality of ICE tactics in the Trump era, DACA and TPS immigration laws, and more. This is the second part of an interview that first aired on last week’s October 13thshow.

Rankin said that his home town of Memphis, Tennessee is expecting a crackdown by Trump’s DHS and the Tennessee National Guard.

There is no statute of limitations on misdemeanor or felony immigration violations according to the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act or subsequent law, unlike the average ten-year statute of limitation on criminal prosecution for fraud, drug trafficking, and many violent felonies.

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We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Steve Zeltzer and Thomas O’Rourke.

You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening!

Music:

Conflict Approach · Apostle B.A Abad · Apostle BA Abad · Kreacher K

Thievery Corporation – El Pueblo Unido [Official Audio]