U.S. Workers Fight State Organized Assaults on Basis of Self-Reliance and Defending Rights of All

Resistance in Chicago, DC and Los Angeles Shows Self-Reliance Is the Only Way

Chicago, September 6, 2025

The workers and people from all walks of life in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere are standing up to military occupation and the arbitrary, racist and unjust raids and arrests of federal policing agencies. While use of the military has only been threatened in Chicago, people in DC, Los Angeles, El Paso, and other cities along the southern border have already experienced military attacks on their cities.

In Chicago, mass actions were immediately called to reject any use of the military and oppose the raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These actions supplement the Rapid Response Network in place that provides immediate assistance and support whenever ICE is spotted in communities. Various organizations -- immigrant rights groups, legal organizations, anti-war groups, Palestine organizations, the Chicago Teachers Union and many others -- are working together to block federal forces and defend rights, including the right to speak and organize. Thousands took action upon hearing that National Guard troops from Texas may be deployed. The resistance is not relying on elected officials but speaking in their own name to say No! Not in Our City!

Similarly, in DC actions are bringing together the many sectors and collectives of workers, including teachers, nurses, federal workers, Black, Latinx, Korean, Filipinos, Chinese organizations, anti-war and pro-Palestinian forces and more, all united as one to defend rights. The connection between genocide in Palestine and repression and the history and continued genocide at home, with racist mass incarceration, against Indigenous Peoples and sovereignty, is evident.

DC now has more policing forces, federal and local, per capita than any other city in the country. While its population is relatively small, about 700,000, the metro area has the third largest Black population in the country of 1.8 million. The government is repeatedly trying to divide the people, saying workers are criminals to be terrorized and punished. It has nothing to do with drugs or gangs or "crime," but with repression and intimidation. The people of DC have answered loud and clear, We Are All DC! They too are relying on their own efforts and expanding and strengthening their resistance.

Organized resistance in Los Angeles has also persisted, such that most military forces have now been removed. Rapid Response Networks and self-defense committees are all mobilized. Everywhere, the people are coming forward to oppose raids by ICE and other federal forces and demand an end to these unjust racist attacks.

People have broadly condemned the role of the LA police, who instead of upholding the city's sanctuary status, have attacked and arrested protestors, using tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and more. The refusal of local police to defend people of the city has further shown that for the resistance, self-reliance is the only way.

Washington, DC
We Are All DC Action
September 6, 2025

September 6, 2025: At least 20,000 people took part in the We Are All DC protest against Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Washington, DC. Participants gathered at Malcolm X Park and marched down 16th Street, passed under Scott Circle and headed toward Lafayette Square and the White House. The march ended in Freedom Plaza. The action united the many organized forces from different fronts of struggle around the demand to end the occupation of DC. A banner representing the call of participants read: Free DC, Free Palestine, Free us ALL. The three-starred flag of DC affirmed "home rule" -- the right of DC residents to determine their own affairs.

Chicago
Emergency Action Against Stepped Up ICE Raids
September 9, 2025

Coalition Against the Trump Agenda, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Palestinian, anti-war and other organizations joined an emergency rally on short notice, September 9, 2025, to protest the deployment of federal troops and the increased raids by ICE in Chicago through "Operation Midway Blitz," with "Midway" being a war reference. The attack includes having hundreds of Homeland Security officials operating from a naval base outside of Chicago.

No Trump, No Troops!
September 6, 2025

Responding to the call No Trump, No Troops! thousands of Chicagoans rallied to oppose the surge in federal agents for illegal raids and detentions with impunity in their communities, along with the anticipated arrival of National Guard or military forces, September 6, 2025.

Labour Day
September 1, 2025

Working people in Chicago rally to the call, Workers over Billionaires on the occasion of Labour Day to defend the rights of all, September 1, 2025, alongside other such similar actions across the U.S. that day.