2 days ago
LA stands up to ICE raids. What about Boston?
In fact, Boston activists did rally on Monday in an act coordinated by Service Employees International Union members in support of David Huerta, a prominent labor and civil rights leader in California and SEIU United Service Workers West president, who
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'When somebody is violently detained as David [Huerta] was — arrested and detained — we're going to stand up and make our voices heard. This is bringing it all to a new level,' Kevin Brown, executive vice president of SEIU 32BJ, told me in an interview before the Monday rally. SEIU 32BJ — which represents more than 185,000 members in a dozen states, including 21,000 in Massachusetts and Rhode Island — calls itself the largest immigrant-majority union membership in the country.
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'Of course, it's not just about David … this is about the ICE raids, and this is about a fundamental attack on democracy,' Brown said. 'When you mobilize 2,000 National Guard [members], you threaten to bring in the Marines over the objections of the governor and the mayor. ... Yeah, this is pretty bad.'
Lucy Pineda, a longtime activist and founder and director of the nonprofit Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts, has been documenting ICE activity daily on social media primarily in Chelsea, East Boston, Everett, and Lynn. '¿Hasta cuándo el pueblo se va a levantar?' When will the people rise up?,
Pineda's voice was emotional when she picked up my call Monday morning as she told me about a heart-wrenching ICE raid in Lynn
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ICE's activity in LA seemingly signals a new phase in Trump's immigration crackdown, one that local advocates have been bracing for: workplace raids.
To be sure,
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the force behind Trump's immigration plans, has reportedly put pressure on ICE leaders to '
'What do you mean you're going after criminals?'
That flood has begun. But so has the resistance.
'We've been preparing for this level of activity from the Trump administration since he was elected in November,' Brown said. 'We will absolutely do everything that we can lawfully engage in to protect our members' rights.'
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'Americans are stunned,' David Leopold, an immigration lawyer and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told me. 'What they voted for was a secure border. What they got is a full-on military-style assault on immigrants.'
Marcela García is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
