Immigrant Rights and the Battle for Basic Needs

By the League Basic Needs Electoral Committee

Donald Trump resembles the description of Satan in the Bible:*

“When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Trump’s immigration policy in particular is an immense web of lies. First, he said he only wanted to deport dangerous criminals – then he signed an order to round up children. He said he only wanted to deport the undocumented – then he took away documentation from hundreds of thousands of “legal” migrants. He said he only wanted to attack immigrants – then he signed an order to strip away birthright citizenship.

The fight against MAGA fascism demands that we build working class unity, step by step, across every occupation, region, demographic and ideology, beginning with the people who are most impacted. They say divide and conquer, we say unite and win. Although the administration’s attacks are deliberately so broad as to make it difficult to know where resistance should begin, it is indeed beginning with those people who are most impacted. Led by families of migrants, spearheaded by the youth, daily demonstrations have broken out across the country, including school walkouts, highway shutdowns, marches and picket lines.

THE CUTTING EDGE

Alongside immigrants, the administration is attacking all people of color, especially African Americans, through dismantling DEI programs, erasing data bases identifying killer cops and canceling Black History. It is attacking women, the LGBTQ communities and the working class at large through attacks on union rights, voting rights, housing programs and Medicaid. It is important for people to resist wherever they are. And that is what they are doing, in women’s marches, Tesla picket lines, Stand Up for Science rallies and movements like the National Nurses United (NNU) “Fund Care Not Billionaires” campaign.

But the entire history of the MAGA movement since 2015 shows that the cutting edge of the attack is the offensive against migrants. The real aim of the anti-immigrant movement is not really to stop migration, but rather:
⋅ to deny rights to migrant workers already here, so that employers and landlords can exploit them for higher profits and
⋅ to divert workers fighting for their basic needs and divide the working-class movement, making it difficult or impossible to resist the attacks that the billionaire class is preparing against all workers.

The most advanced and resolute sectors of the working-class movement understand this and are pushing beyond the historic silos that have blocked class unity in the past. They understand that the increasing economic polarization is impoverishing workers across color lines more than ever before and are sounding the alarm that the attack on migrants is an attack on all.

As stated by Housing Now!, a California coalition of renters and housing rights organization: “Access to affordable, quality housing for all is critical for the health and vitality of California’s communities, which include immigrant families who are already disproportionately rent burdened. As we move forward, Housing Now! remains vigilant in partnership with immigrant-rights organizations at every level and we resolutely reject President Trump’s harmful policies, which seek to divide and destabilize our communities.”

BUILDING UNITY

Rapid-response networks have arisen all across the country, so much so that ICE director Tom Homan is threatening to arrest people who educate migrants about their constitutional rights. When migrants understand their rights, it has seriously slowed down deportations, particularly in Chicago, where ICE attempted to carry out its first mass arrests. The billionaires are trying to divide Chicago’s working class around Mayor Brandon Johnson’s defense of immigrant rights ahead of the anticipated teachers’ strike this spring.

In Los Angeles, people from all across the city are coming together in a coalition called “Lash Out” that is resisting attacks on immigrants, on the unhoused and on the mutual aid groups that assist them. One mutual aid worker reported being harassed and interrogated by a city council representative, with police hovering in the background, just for showing up with coffee and donuts at an unhoused encampment sweep. People participating in daily demonstrations against ICE are also supporting the movement for renter protections and compensation for people who lost income due to the January wildfires.

In Oakland, the resistance to draconian local budget cuts, sweeps of unhoused encampments and attacks on seniors and renters is uniting with the defense of migrants against mass deportation. “Tenants are workers and many tenants are immigrants,” said one leader. “Our unions and housing organizations are starting to break out of their silos and become open to community issues. All this resistance is bringing the genie out of the bottle.”

DEFEND SANCTUARY CITIES

The illegal orders to eliminate funding to sanctuary and “DEI” cities and agencies are deadly serious. When implemented, they may very well deprive millions of health care and throw millions into homelessness. They are an attempt to pit people against each other just when the battle for basic needs is getting desperate.

Defense of migrants is the opening clash in the upcoming war to defend the working class. Class unity in the fight for basic needs is decisive. It will determine the success or failure of the entire resistance movement. If the basic needs movement can move forward in unity, the entire broad movement to defend democracy – the thousands at anti-Tesla and anti-Trump demonstrations – will stay on track.

America is the wealthiest society in the history of the world and it is cruel and unnecessary for any of our people to have to suffer homelessness and deprivation in order to further enrich the billionaire class. Nothing but a moral blindness and lack of social vision prevents us from guaranteeing housing and health care for all. As Dr. King said, “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.”

*John 8:44 New International Version

Published on March 21, 2025
This article originated in Rally!
P.O. Box 477113 Chicago, IL 60647 rally@lrna.org
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