Their Whole System is the Problem — Not Migrants

Trump has now been in power for a week. Since taking office, he has shown very clearly whose interests he intends to represent. Trump’s inauguration was attended by some of the wealthiest and most powerful CEOs in our society, including the three richest men in the world — Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk — who sat right behind Trump during the inauguration.

Trump also made his intentions clear at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland, a major annual gathering of global elites in politics and business. In his speech, he promised the U.S. would be the best place in the world for elites to invest, and promised to slash regulations and give massive tax cuts to corporations operating in the U.S.

While Trump has been rubbing shoulders with powerful CEOs and rolling out his corporate-friendly policies, his administration has begun the aggressive deportation and anti-immigration policies he promised on the campaign trail. He signed executive orders to help fast-track and expand deportations, threatened to prosecute local officials in states and cities that don’t assist federal law enforcement to carry out deportations, and signed an executive order attempting to end the right of citizenship for anyone born in the United States. He also revoked federal policies which previously prevented immigration authorities from entering protected sites such as churches or schools.

On top of this, there have been high-profile deportation raids targeting workers in cities like Newark, New Jersey and Bakersfield, California. In both raids, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) racially profiled and detained dozens of immigrant workers, many of whom were citizens or had legal status. All of this is aimed at terrorizing immigrant workers and leading to a climate of fear and disorientation.  

In comparison, many deportations were carried out under Biden as well, with 271,000 immigrants in 2024, about 740 per day, which was higher than any year under Trump’s first presidency. In Trump’s first week, deportations have been slightly higher. But while Biden tried to keep it a secret, Trump is showing them off trying to stoke fear in families and children.

Migrants have not been the only community under attack by Trump. We have seen the administration sign other executive orders attacking rights and policies aimed at preventing discrimination and increasing diversity, especially targeting trans people. Education and healthcare are under attack as well. Teachers’ jobs are being threatened if they teach “unpatriotic” curriculum, and Trump has signed executive orders restricting healthcare access for low-income individuals. Out of all the many executive orders Trump signed in his first week, not one was aimed at improving the lives of working people. He even signed an executive order to cut protections of workers’ health and safety at work.

All of these attacks coming down at once are meant to be disorienting and discouraging. But we cannot believe the lies of the Trump administration as it tries to blame undocumented immigrants for creating the problems we all face. It is absolutely false that immigrants are taking away jobs or are responsible for more crime than those who are born here. This is said to frighten people and to get those who have legal status to go along with or ignore the attacks on those who don’t.

But workers have tremendous power to resist the attacks of this system because we do the work to make society run. And immigrant labor is vital to many industries. About 50% of the country’s entire agricultural workforce is undocumented, along with many other industries, including meatpacking, the construction trades, building services, healthcare, childcare, restaurants, retail, and more. When this enormous power is mobilized along with that of all the workers in society, we have the power to put an end to these attacks.

A line in the sand is being drawn. With the latest round of attacks on immigrants, the Trump administration has made it very clear that there are only two sides. On one side are the super-rich, the only ones who stand to benefit from Trump’s policies. And on the other side are working people from all walks of life, documented and undocumented, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Attacks on immigrant workers are an attack on all poor and working people. And we can’t fall for the lies they use to try to divide us. When it comes to attacks on any one of us, we need to make it clear that An Injury To One Is An Injury To All! We must stand with and defend immigrant workers against the government and the rich who exploit us all.

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