No. 17
July 14, 2025
Military and ICE Shock and Awe Fail in United States
• Organized Resistance in Los Angeles Unstoppable
• Government Report Confirms Surge in Homelessness
Photo Reviews
• Independence Day Actions Across the U.S.
• Protests Against "Alligator Alcatraz"
Detention Camp
in South Florida
Military and ICE Shock and Awe Fail in United States
Organized Resistance in Los Angeles Unstoppable
Demonstration June 9, 2025, against ICE raids and against
attack on SEIU California
President David Huerta
For more than 35 straight days the organized and united resistance of the people of Los Angeles (LA) has defended the rights of immigrants, workers, and residents of whole communities. Since June 6, the invasion and many shock and awe efforts by the military and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and the FBI have utterly failed to dampen the determination and defiance of Angelinos.
The fact that the
raids are directed at the working class, not criminals, is evident in
the focus of raids at workplaces, at Home Depot and Walgreens where day
labourers gather to secure work, and community restaurants at dinner
time. The workers have responded, protecting and defending each other
and organizing to block ICE and CBP. Indeed, the 4,000 National
Guardsmen and 700 Marines were brought in after hours-long pitched
battles by organized forces in Paramount and Compton, in greater Los
Angeles, June 7, prevented ICE and CBP from entering factories in the
area and forced them to retreat. This was followed by tens of thousands
demonstrating June 8 at the LA Federal Detention Center. Many similar
examples of blocking factories and demonstrations of various kinds have
since taken place.
A rally at the LA Home Depot was organized and a call was given for a boycott, as the owners are assisting ICE. Then a Know Your Rights! Stand Up to ICE Day of Action took place at more than 50 Home Depots across the country. When Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California President David Huerta was brutalized, arrested, and hospitalized with injuries June 6, and held over the weekend for defending workers at a factory being targeted, workers and their unions in California and across the country came out demanding his release. SEIU has 750,000 members in California and 2 million across the country. On being released on a $50,000 bond and still facing felony charges, Huerta emphasized that all those arrested and detained must be released and if he can be targeted in this manner, everyone can. This is a reality recognized by all and generating fierce anger with Trump and the repressive forces being used with impunity.
The repeated efforts by ICE, CBP, the FBI and the military to terrorize and intimidate, using raids, detention, kidnapping, arrests, tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper balls, flash bang grenades and more cannot succeed given the undaunted stand of the resistance day after day. Despite using large forces in full military gear with tanks and automatic weapons, while other times coming masked and in unmarked cars to kidnap people off the streets, and most recently having troops and ICE raid a public park where children were playing -- they are failing.
It is not an accident that Trump chose LA for this live war game inside the country. It is a sanctuary city and California a sanctuary state, meaning local and state police forces cannot assist federal forces in arrests and detentions. Trump is testing to see how elected officials and local police forces respond and the level of resistance from the people. On this Angelinos have answered loud and clear: ICE and Troops Out of Our City! End Detention and Deportation! Drop All the Charges and Release All Arrested! We Know Our Rights and Defend the Rights of All! Police have acted against the protesters rather than defending them. LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom have opposed the actions in words but not demanded that the police end arrests of protesters or that the National Guard stand down, which Newsom has authority to do.
Troops in LA are also for potential use in Mexico, only about 210 kilometres away. As well, half the population has Mexican origins, with many of those targeted having lived in the country for years. Whether new or old, documented or not, they are an integral part of the U.S. working class and among the most militant. They are also a force to be reckoned with should there be an effort to invade Mexico.
Angelinos are also highly organized, both in terms of active unions, like SEIU and the Longshoremen, and Community Patrols and Rapid Response Networks. Union del Barrio, one of the main organizers, since 1992 has developed Community Patrols block by block throughout the city and surrounding areas, training people for self-defence and know-your-rights work. They were also instrumental in developing the Community Self-Defense Coalition which unites the many active forces to join in efforts to patrol, alert and defend against raids, and provide information on rights and assistance as needed for families and children.
What stands out in Los Angeles is that it is not weapons and police and troops that determine the outcome, it is the people and their organized resistance that is decisive.
Protest in Los Angeles against ICE,
June 8, 2025
(Photos: SEIU 721, AA)
Megabill Enacts Deep Cuts to
Social Programs
and Huge Increases to
Immigration
Enforcement and Military
On July 4, U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). It is a major budget bill which provides for government spending and tax provisions for the next 10 years. Known as a megabill, it is 1,116 pages long and has 309 provisions.
The
bill enacts severe cuts to health care and food assistance, enshrines
major tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, and massively
increases funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to
carry out raids and mass detentions, as well as increasing war
spending, including $30
billion for drones and AI related weaponry.
The bill is part of the state restructuring and broad anti-social offensive under the Trump administration. The major restructuring of the state further increases use of the powers of the executive and extends them. The restructuring involves further eliminating responsibility of government for the needs of the people and it undermines Congressional powers over the purse strings and matters related to acts of war.
The bill raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, eliminating the separate vote usually taken for this. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will increase the budget deficit by $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years. Interest alone on the debt will double between 2024 and 2034 to $1.8 trillion (4.2 percent of GDP).
A small fraction of the $1 trillion Pentagon budget, or freezing debt payments, would readily provide funds needed for health care, housing and all the rights of the people – but such pro-social actions are not considered.
The OBBBA extends the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, in force since the first Trump administration in 2018 and throughout the Biden administration, which was slated to expire at the end of 2025. Maintaining these tax cuts, most of which are now permanent, will amount to $4.5 trillion in lost government revenue over the next 10 years. The New York Times reports, "Certain tax provisions disproportionately benefit the top 10 per cent of earners, such as changes to the tax treatment of local taxes, changes to the estate tax, and a lasting extension of a deduction for certain business income that high earners tend to use the most."
The bill enacts $1.7 trillion of spending cuts over 10 years, including a 12 per cent cut to Medicaid, or $863 billion, that provides health care for low-income people, especially women and children. An estimated 17 million people, many working, are expected to lose coverage as a result and more hospitals and nursing homes would be impacted. As one example, an estimated 28 per cent of early educators who rely on Medicaid will lose their benefits. Many rural hospitals are expected to close.
The new rules are designed to keep people who qualify from getting the benefits by increasing verification, exemptions, challenges, and work requirements. Medicare, for seniors, could also be cut by $500 billion over 10 years. Already the large majority of people do not have the health care needed and 26 million people in the U.S. lack any form of health insurance.
Federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, will be cut to the tune of $267 billion over 10 years. Five per cent of the costs of benefits and 75 per cent of administrative costs (up from 50 per cent) will be downloaded to the states, meaning more cuts. The bill introduces further barriers to qualifying for assistance, which will force more people to prove they are working, pursuing an education or are in a training program to receive SNAP. The program is accessed by 40 million people, while also being underutilized because many people are not informed that they qualify for assistance or because of the social stigma associated with it. It is also inadequate in terms of the amount of support it provides.
Cuts to both SNAP and Medicaid will be devastating. It remains unclear how many tens of millions of children will be impacted. Medicaid provides health care to 30 million children, and SNAP ensures over 16 million children have access to food. For children with disabilities, Medicaid is the third-largest source of funding for K—12 public schools. It funds 30 per cent of all early intervention for infants and toddlers with disabilities. Restrictions on eligibility for Medicaid and SNAP will also impact schools being able to draw down funding for meals. Medicaid and SNAP eligibility translates into free school meals for many children and into increased federal school lunch funding for many school districts.
Food banks and church programs, already stretched thin, are organizing to prepare for many more people, relying even more on private donations. It is evident that government restructuring is taking society backward to the time when poor people had to rely on charity, not government, to survive. In a country as wealthy as the U.S., care for children is certainly a measure of its quality. Human rights and democratic character have been made expendable.
The
cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will impact Indigenous Peoples especially
hard, as well as Black people, both making up a disproportionate number
of people who are forced to live in poverty. The same is true for
Puerto Ricans and low-wage immigrant families, refugees and those who
have received or
are seeking asylum.
OBBBA also makes $350 billion in cuts to education, with close to $300 billion of this to higher education and the student loan repayment system. Funding for solar, wind and electric vehicles has also been cut.
The OBBBA introduces $450 billion in new spending over 10 years. This includes $150 billion in additional war spending and $170 billion for measures relating to militarization of the border and immigration. There is funding for 10,000 more ICE agents, 5,000 Border Patrol officers and more detention camps for at least 100,000 people. ICE, known for its brutality and lawlessness, will receive $45 billion over the next four years, and will become the largest federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history.
Contracts for the planned detention camps will go to private prison companies, like GEO Group and CoreCivic, both notorious for providing rotten conditions, lack of food and medical care, refusing entry to lawyers and family. Repeated protests have forced some of their worst facilities to close but now the government will reward them with new lucrative contracts.
Imposing Conciliation on Congress
As president, a key role for Trump is to further increase presidential powers and break the bounds of the Constitution so the private oligarchs he represents can secure even more public funds and be unfettered by government regulations. He is doing this by arbitrarily cutting government agencies, refusing to release funds already appropriated and now with the budget.
The budget, which includes taxation, is one of the main powers Congress has left. The hurried passage of the megabill, extremely limited debate imposed, and the open threats and corruption used to secure passage are evidence that the executive will intervene far more forcefully to get Congress to submit.
A budget reconciliation bill commonly takes five months or more to pass as various committees in both the House and Senate are involved. Instead, the House limited debate on a more than 1,000 page bill to two hours. It passed May 20, with a vote of 215-214. The reconciliation bill includes a motion to reconsider, which means the House can vote again on the bill.
The Senate received the bill June 28 and passed it, with changes and amendments, July 1. It did so while repeatedly refusing to send it to relevant committees as is normally done. A reconciliation bill means only a majority was needed in the Senate, not the usual 60 votes to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. The Senate bill further increased cuts to Medicare. The vote was 51-50 with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President J.D. Vance needed to pass it.
The House then voted on the Senate version, with one hour of debate, and passed the final bill July 3, by a vote of 218 to 214.
It is likely most of these elected officials did not even read the entire bill. The threats and public humiliation by Trump were such that Senator Tillis of North Carolina and Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska have announced they will not run again. Others voted yes while stating it was a "bad bill." Imposing such conciliation, limited debate and rapid passage based on executive dictate are part of weakening Congress in favour of the executive.
While, however briefly, the OBBBA was debated in Congress it was widely opposed by federal workers, nurses, teachers and many immigrant, women, and human rights organizations. Many actions took place in June and again on July 4, rejecting the tyranny and impunity of the Trump administration. More actions are planned across the country for July 17.
A lawsuit was also immediately filed against the cuts to Planned Parenthood, which provides health care for pregnant women. The federal judge issued an injunction, halting the cuts. Resistance to the cuts and ICE raids and attacks also continue daily in Los Angeles, and regularly in Chicago, New York, El Paso and elsewhere. Working people everywhere are angry with the backward and repressive direction set for the country and are standing up to say NO!
Government Report Confirms Surge
in Homelessness
In the United States, federal law mandates the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to conduct a count of homeless people during a single night in January each year and report its findings to Congress. HUD's single night homeless count for January 2024 has been released to the public. The report says the number of homeless people directly counted surged 18 per cent since January 2023 to a record high of 771,480 people on a night in January 2024. The 18 per cent increase comes on top of a 12 per cent jump in the homeless number counted on a single night in January 2023. The 2023 increase is said to have been "driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time."[1]
The National Alliance to End Homelessness states, "Vulnerable Americans have been hard hit during the post-pandemic years as many government supports ended, including the eviction moratorium. At the same time, housing costs are surging, causing a record number of renters to be cost-burdened, or paying more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. More people than ever need help paying rent. More people than ever are becoming homeless for the first time."
Findings of HUD and Other Reports on Homelessness
Among the most concerning trends in the HUD report was a nearly 40 per cent rise in family homelessness, which more than doubled in 13 communities including Denver, Chicago and New York City. HUD data show that 36 per cent of the homeless were unsheltered and living in places not considered fit for human habitation with the remainder living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or safe haven programs. This survey does not count as homeless those people who live in overcrowded apartments or in government subsidized accommodation. HUD reports that a larger group experiences homelessness for one or more short periods during the year. "Many of this group are not captured in the point-in-time survey. There are about four times more people cycling through temporary homelessness than those who are homeless at the particular moment of the annual survey," HUD says.
A separate California census conducted in October 2024 counted more than 230,000 homeless students in California's K-12 public schools, an increase of more than 20,000 (9.3%) from the 2023 census. The number of homeless students in California has gone up 37 per cent in the last decade. This disturbing trend is occurring even as overall enrolment rates continue downward. The census report says, without explanation, that officials believe the actual number of homeless children is far higher. The report adds that homelessness in childhood leads to a high incidence of mental illness.
HUD points out that 33 per cent of the homeless were families with children. Overall 19 per cent of the homeless were under 18 years old. "Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33 per cent jump from last year," HUD reports.
Nearly half of homeless adults had formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless and nearly all sheltered homeless adults either worked or were reached by at least one safety net program. The HUD report in fact says many of those counted as homeless are working but with incomes too low to pay rent while at the same time meet their necessity to eat.
HUD says this suggests that homelessness tends to arise in the context of long-term, severe deprivation rather than large and sudden losses of income. Another study appears to corroborate this view as it found that the income of people experiencing homelessness remained persistently very low for a decade surrounding the period of homelessness.[2]
The rise in homelessness during the last decade coincides with the subsequent sharp rise in housing costs relative to income.[3]
Homeless people have a 60 per cent higher mortality rate than housed individuals. They live in poverty with a life expectancy 26 years shorter than the general population. They experience infectious disease and mental illness at a substantially higher rate and have less access to primary care, using hospital emergency rooms three times as frequently as stably-housed people. The homeless are much more often victims of violent attacks and incarceration.
Certain mass media report that rather than dealing with the "root cause of homelessness" or even increasing social investments to assist those in need, many cities and states are criminalizing poverty and attacking those living in tents or out in the open. An increasing number of states and municipalities are taking a hard line against homelessness and abusing the victims. Enforcing laws against vagrancy has become commonplace especially in western states. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jurisdictions enforcing outdoor sleeping bans do not violate the 236- year-old U.S. constitution. After the Supreme Court ruling, criminalization of homelessness has become standard practice in many jurisdictions.
Note
1. The complete HUD report, AHAR: Part 1 -- PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S., is available here.
2. See study prepared by the National Bureau of Economic Research: "Homelessness and the Persistence of Deprivation: Income, Employment, and Safety Net Participation"here.
3. See Pew table, "Homelessness Increased in Areas Where Rents Soared" here.
Photo Reviews
Independence Day Actions Across the U.S.
An Ohio-wide protest was
called for Columbus, July 4, 2025
Across
the United States on the weekend of July 4 to 6 that marked the 249th
anniversary of the country's independence more than 400 actions were
held under the call "Independence Without Tyranny!" These actions
affirmed the rights of all in the face of the Trump administration's
broadening anti-social offensive with its intensifying assault on
rights, especially the expanding raids and mass detentions being
carried out using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the
military. The courageous organized resistance of the people of the
United States is ongoing. They followed hundreds of actions across the
country against war against Iran and genocide in Gaza June 21 and 28.
The Trump administration is continuing to concentrate police powers in the hands of the president and increase use of the military inside the country. This includes breaking the law by using the military to carry out domestic law enforcement during ICE raids and detention. On June 19, in a case brought by California Governor Gavin Newsom, a U.S. appeals court did not rule on the legality of the 700 U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles but did allow President Donald Trump to maintain his deployment of California National Guard troops.
"The president is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump's authoritarian use of U.S. military soldiers against citizens," said Newsom. He did not, however, use his authority as commander of the California National Guard to order them to stand down, as demanded by demonstrators.
In his response, Trump indicated that this use of the military is to become the new norm. "This is much bigger than Gavin [Newsom]," Trump wrote on social media. "All over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable."
Deployment of Marines
This stepped up and illegal use of the military was already underway before the ruling about the National Guard. On June 17, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth authorized the mobilization of 700 troops to Florida, Louisiana and Texas. On July 3, 200 Marines were deployed from North Carolina to Florida as the first cohort of these troops.
The Department of Defense said the troops would only "provide logistical support, and conduct administrative and clerical functions" associated with detaining people at ICE facilities and not perform law enforcement. Experience on the ground, at the border where Army troops are present, already shows otherwise, as do military actions in Los Angeles.
Some 8,500 Marines are also deployed in Texas along the border with Mexico, alongside agents from Customs and Border Protection.
Middleton, CT
Willimantic,
CT
Huntington,
NY
Waynesboro, PA
Greenbelt, MD
Morgantown, WV
Hickory, NC
Tampa,
FL
St. Petersburg, FL
Gainsville, FL
Adrian, MI
Columbus, OH
Chicago,
IL
Springfield, IL
Lamar,
CO
Albuquerque, NM
Peace Arch Park, WA
Olympia,
WA
Spokane,
WA
San Jose, CA
Folsom, CA
Anchorage,
AK
(Photos: L.C. Vigue, S,
Duchesneau, J. Roberts, Franklin County Indivisible, J. Campanile, C.
Neely, M. Croft, B. Moser, T.S. Balke, T. Coulliette, C. Slott, P.
Becker, PSL, CAARP, Illinois Undivided and Focused, Angel GO, V.
Taylor, H. Landry, J. Snyder, Visibility Brigades, J. Kim, M. Drolette,
J. Faso-Formoso, P. Bergeron, D. Stankus)
Protests Against "Alligator Alcatraz" Detention Camp in South Florida
Protest in Ochopee, June
22, 2025
"Alligator Alcatraz" is a newly-built makeshift tent city run on generators that will be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention camp. It is located on Indigenous lands at the former Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport inside Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, Florida. People detained by ICE have been sent there since July 6, less than three weeks after construction began. It has been widely opposed by the Miccosukee, Seminole and residents as dangerous, illegal and unjust. There is one road in and out, it is in wetlands prone to flooding, and it is hurricane season in Florida.
The detention camp was established under emergency powers wielded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. State officials estimate that its total capacity will be 5,000 people, who will be crowded into cages inside large tents. As of late June, some 59,000 people were being held in ICE detention camps across the U.S. Donald Trump loudly accuses them of being criminals, murderers and more. They are workers, not criminals. Almost half of them have no criminal record at all and many more have only non-violent misdemeanors such as traffic tickets.
The
plans to build the detention camp only came to public attention on June
18, when high-speed construction of the site was already underway. Mass
protests against "Alligator Alcatraz" have been ongoing since at least
June 22. In addition to demanding an end to ICE's immigration raids and
its violation of human rights, protesters emphasized the location is
dangerous for everyone, that the conditions are inhumane and that the
detention camp has been established without the necessary environmental
reports and will damage critical wetlands of the Florida Everglades,
disrupt wildlife habitats and tourism, and undermine decades of
restoration work.
Indigenous nations strenuously object to the detention camp and condemn its encroachment on their traditional lands as an attack on their rights and sovereignty. Fifteen traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites are located there. One Indigenous leader decried the speed of construction and pointed out that many people still recovering from past hurricanes haven't received comparable support or resources. On June 27, a coalition of organizations filed suit in federal court seeking an injunction until a full environmental review and public-comment period are completed. On July 11 environmental organizations said they are filing a lawsuit saying "Alligator Alcatraz” violates the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
The groundwork for the detention centre was laid back in January 2023 when Governor DeSantis invoked a "state of emergency on immigration." In Florida, a state of emergency lasts for 60 days but can be renewed indefinitely, which is what has happened since 2023. This "state of emergency on immigration" has become the new norm, even though there is no imminent disaster to prepare for, mitigate, respond to or recover from to justify its use.
Like Trump has done, Governor DeSantis used an executive order to bypass certain land procurement laws, seize county land and accelerate construction of the detention camp. Collier County officials and the Mayor of Miami-Dade County were only officially informed of the project the day construction started on June 23. The property is now under the control of the state and will remain so for "the duration of the state of emergency." By putting facts on the ground with speed, DeSantis hoped to overwhelm objections from local officials and activists but has been met with strong resistance.
Almost
90 per cent of those detained by ICE are held in facilities run by
for-profit, private companies. Contracts to build and run these camps
-- including "Alligator Alcatraz" -- are awarded on a corrupt basis. A
report from the Florida
Trident
found that contracting company IRG Global Emergency Management, formed
in February, was awarded a $1.1 million contract in late June to
provide "operational support services in support of migration efforts"
in Florida. Environmental activists have reported seeing their trucks
at the "Alligator Alcatraz" site. IRG Global Emergency Management is a
subsidiary of Access Restoration Services U.S., Inc. It has donated
hundreds of thousands of dollars to reactionary causes over the past
three years, including DeSantis' own political action committee.
"Alligator Alcatraz" is said to cost $1.23 million per day or $450 million per year to run. The state of Florida is initially paying to run the detention centre, with plans to seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
As of March, there were at least 134 ICE detention camps, most run by private prison companies. They are paid by the number of beds occupied and thus cram as many people as possible into their facilities with no regard for medical treatment, food and safety. These companies are notorious for the inhumane and illegal conditions in their facilities yet are being given more contracts, including for family detention camps. Previous family camps were shut down through hunger strikes and protest and no doubt will be again as demands to End Detentions and Deportations! continue.
Protest in Ochopee, June 22, 2025
(Photos: Friends of Everglades)
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