Immigration
QUEENS RALLIES AGAINST ICE RAIDS
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Queens community members rallied in Corona Plaza on Aug. 11 to speak out against ICE raids and to build the movement for immigrant rights. The rally demanded an end to mass raids and called for “Liberation, not deportation!”
Organizers were responding directly to U.S. immigration officials raid on numerous Mississippi food processing plants Aug 7, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.
“We are here to come together and defend one another-- we are here to fight. If ICE comes to Queens we’re going to make sure everyone has the information necessary to defend themselves, the information that can help make sure they don’t take you away, because this is a community of immigrants and we are staying here!” said organizer and Queens native Cathy Rojas.
Organizers gave out leaflets breaking down these rights, such as the requirement that to enter your apartment ICE agents must have a warrant signed by a judge. The rally organizers are shifting conversations around immigration to highlight U.S. government’s training of dictators and paramilitary death squads across Latin America, causing widespread violence through coups, such as the 2009 coup in Honduras, causing people to flee..