Within hours of taking office, Trump set out to begin his full-on attacks on working people, with immigrants being first on his list. One of the first executive orders Trump signed targets birthright citizenship, along with others targeting trans people, federal workers, and climate policies. Trump and his administration have made it clear that they are more organized and more prepared to carry out sweeping attacks this time around.
On Tuesday, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security acting secretary Benjamine Huffman announced that ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement) would be allowed to raid previously protected spaces, like hospitals, schools, and churches. This is a significant and frightening escalation of the onslaught against immigrants, and also presents serious dangers for public health and education.
Public Health Emergency
Despite the DHS secretary stating that immigrants have been “hiding” in hospitals, the reality is that immigrants who are going to hospitals are seeking treatment. Millions will now be waiting in fear to see how and when Trump’s mass deportations will be put into action—immigrants being too scared to seek healthcare is a massive public health crisis.
In the midst of flu season where we’re already seeing a dangerous rise of other respiratory illnesses, this will mean fewer people getting vaccinated and fewer people seeking treatment, which can mean an increased spread of dangerous illnesses. There have already been 160,000 hospitalizations and over 6,500 deaths from the flu this year. Trump’s reactionary immigration policies will have fatal consequences in more ways than one—by forcing immigrants to avoid seeking medical care when they need it, as well as by forcing many back to dangerous conditions in their home countries.
Trump’s Divide-and-Rule
Attacks on immigrants seek to divide working people, pitting foreign-born and US-born workers against each other, when our real enemy is the bosses. Bosses are able to get away with paying undocumented workers less because of their legal status, but that just drives down wages for all workers. A section of workers being in constant fear of deportation also makes organizing effectively against the bosses much more difficult, because unity among as many workers as possible is absolutely crucial to winning and to rebuilding a militant labor movement. That’s why this divide-and-rule strategy is dangerous for all workers. The labor movement urgently needs to play a role in fighting these divisions by fighting to organize and protect all workers and fighting for higher wages. Blaming immigrants for capitalist crises in society, like low wages and lack of jobs, only serves the bosses to divide working people and make our movements weaker.
Trump’s characterization of immigration as an “invasion” is a key part of whipping up nationalist sentiment, which is important for justifying war and militarization internationally. While the ruling class has their own profit and power motives, nationalism is a way for them to sell deadly wars to ordinary working people. More wars and climate disasters have also created a crisis of migration for the ruling class internationally—because capitalist politicians can’t fundamentally solve these problems and still protect their system, they attack immigrants and other marginalized groups.
Fighting Mass Deportations
Many working people are angry at these attacks and want to fight back. And the Democratic Party has made it clear that they do not plan to put up any sort of fight. From Harris’ shift to the right on immigration during the election, to now 12 Democrats voting for the dangerous Laken Riley Act that denies immigrants due process in order to expedite deportations, they have no intention of fighting Trump’s dangerous agenda because they exist to defend the interests of the billionaires and US imperialism, just like Trump. If we want to stop Trump’s agenda, we will need mass working-class action—but what can this look like?
Unions urgently need to take up the fight against deportations by forming deportation defense committees at schools and hospitals. Workers in hospitals need to organize to defend immigrants and public health, by refusing to give the names of patients and co-workers to ICE agents. Teachers must similarly organize to protect students and parents from ICE raids and refuse to let ICE into schools. And unions need to take up the fight to protect workers against retaliation for not enforcing Trump’s unsafe deportation plans, which means being prepared to call strikes and rally our communities to protest any retaliation by the bosses or the government.
Socialist Alternative says:
- ICE out of hospitals, schools, churches, and workplaces! Refuse to cooperate with Trump’s agenda—get organized to fight for sanctuary cities and build emergency deportation defense committees in workplaces, unions, and neighborhoods. We need protests and strikes to stop all right-wing attacks.
- Unions should begin now to organize emergency deportation defense networks to shut down workplace raids by ICE and urgently respond to community raids as well.
- No deportations! Immediate citizenship and equal rights for all undocumented immigrants.
- Build a movement that unites immigrants and US-born workers against the billionaire class to fight for good union jobs, social housing, and free high quality education and healthcare for all.
- Build a movement against the destructive policies of US imperialism around the world that drive working class people to flee their home countries. We need an international struggle for socialism to fight for a world that works for us, not the ruling elite.