We offer this series of activities to help support groups to move in solidarity with immigrant and migrant communities. During the first Trump presidency, Catalyst Project put out a longer curriculum. We offer this 4-part series to help launch your group into action. Gather a group of friends, neighbors, formal or informal to learn together and align yourselves to participate in immigrant-led struggles for justice. Each section is about 60-90 minutes long.
The Trump administration’s all-out assault on migrants needs to be vigorously opposed and resisted. Non-immigrant allies have a big role to play in participating in that resistance from verifying ICE raids for rapid response networks to pushing local and state governments to curb criminalization (one of the main mechanisms used to fuel deportations). Our clarity and alignment with migrant leadership on approaches will make our participation more impactful and help avoid inadvertently contributing to the climate of fear that the administration is intentionally sowing.
The administration has moved to terrorize immigrant, border, and racialized communities through a litany of executive orders, new bills, and raids. We know that these orders which include trying to end birthright citizenship, sending the military to enforce immigration policy, allowing for immigration action at schools and churches, ending DACA, moving towards implementing a new Muslim Ban, and stripping immigrants of due process are landing on people and communities, many of whom have already been terrorized. For many in the Trump orbit, this is part of a political project of trying to create an all-white nation.
The Trump Administration’s attacks on immigrant communities are rooted in white supremacy and xenophobia in ways that trace back to much of the bleakest history of this country. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to mass deportations of 1.8 million people to Mexico in the 30s (an estimated 60% of whom were citizens) to the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (which Trump is seeking to use), US history is full of discrimination and violence against immigrants and people perceived to be immigrants. Often this violence is visited on communities whose countries of origin have been ravaged by US colonialism.
Xenophobia (fear/hatred of immigrants) is layered on top of white supremacy. This means that white immigrants are often less policed and have an easier time getting legal status. On the other hand, those in power have been very successful in casting people from Latin America and the Middle East as criminals, terrorists, etc, and using this fear to justify closing borders, increasing military spending, and expanding policing in communities of color. Meanwhile, many people erase the existence of Black immigrants who are often subjected to a particularly vicious mix of xenophobia and anti-Black racism. As we work to resist attacks on immigrant communities, we need to work to center people who experience the intersection of xenophobia with other forms of oppression–what is happening with disabled immigrant communities? Queer and trans migrants? Migrant sex workers resisting violence?
In our work to combat the Trump administration’s attempt to demonize and criminalize and deport immigrants and migrants, we need to connect with the broader struggle to build a future where people have the ability to live in safety and self-determine the conditions of their own lives.
Just as there is a long history of attacks on immigrants in this country, there is a long legacy of resistance. That resistance includes powerful work done by allies in whose footsteps we hope to walk. The Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s and the resistance of the Muslim Ban during Trump’s first presidency are examples where allies plugged in to powerfully support resistance to racist immigration policies. Thank you for taking on this crucial solidarity work!
You can find the full 2019 curriculum here with more activities and ideas. (Note: many of the links are outdated)