We need to remove our partisan blinders on the matter of immigration policy, then practice radical solidarity with immigrants!
On Monday night I was in a room with 50 people who came to a GR Rapid Response to ICE training, a training that consists of how we can directly intervene to prevent ICE from taking immigrants and a broad spectrum of ways people can be part of Mutual Aid practices with immigrants who are living in fear.
Last week, some 200 people showed up at the ICE office in Grand Rapids to denounce the current administration’s policy of mass deportations and to say NO to the GEO Group’s recent purchase of the prison in Baldwin, MI, which they plan to turn into a n ICE detention facility.
Since the 2024 Election, I have witnessed people turning out for protests and marches organized by Movimiento Cosecha, I have seen hundreds of people go through the GR Rapid Response to ICE training, plus I have been part of trainings in other communities that want to develop their own Rapid Response to ICE system.
All of these activities are an inspiration for me, since I have been involved in immigrant justice work since the 1980s, when I was part of the Central American Sanctuary Movement here in Grand Rapids. When I meet people who want to practice solidarity and do accompaniment work with undocumented immigrants it fills my heart with joy.
However, I also have moments of despair and frustration when people ignore or forget about undocumented immigrants. The moments of despair and frustration I am referring to are generally when a Democrat sits in the White House or when the Democrats have a majority in Congress or the State Legislature. I say this, since the Democratic Party has been equally committed to the criminalization of immigrants for decades. Look at the graph above, which covers a period time beginning with the Clinton Administration through 2024, the end of the Biden Administration. You can see that deportations and the removal of immigrants is a constant, regardless of which political party is in the White House or controls Congress.
While the Clinton Administration was implementing NAFTA, they were also removing millions of undocumented immigrants. The Bush Administration used the War on Terror as a pretext to remove and criminalize undocumented immigrants. President Obama was referred to by the immigrant community as the Deporter in Chief, since his administration deported over 3 million immigrants. In 2017, the Trump Administration engaged in overt xenophobic and racist language when referring to undocumented immigrants, along with his plan to build a wall along the US/Mexican border.
As soon as Trump lost the election in 2020, the number of people that were involved with Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE declined significantly. Movimiento Cosecha’s first action after the election was really a plea to the community, where they hung a banner above the Monroe entrance of the Grand Rapids City Hall, a banner which said – Democrats deport us too!
There is a great deal of outrage right now regarding ICE arrests and the constant threat of mass deportations, as there should be. However, where was this same outrage when the Biden Administration was removing more immigrants during his 4 years than the first 4 years of Trump.
Here are a few examples regarding the lack of outrage during the Biden years:
Left to Die: Border Patrol, Search and Rescue, & the Crisis of Disappearance
Number of Immigrants Under Punitive Surveillance Quadrupled on Biden’s Watch
BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION RESUMES UNDER PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
Tragedy in Texas: 46 Found Dead in Suspected Smuggling Attempt Amid Biden’s Harsh Border Enforcement
Biden Is Locking Up Thousands of Immigrants in For-Profit Detention Centers
Biden FY 2023 Budget Maintains Trump-Era Spending on ICE and CBP
JOE BIDEN DETAINED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN THE LAST YEAR
Haitian Asylum Seekers Held Under Del Rio Bridge Now Face Inhumane Conditions in New Mexico ICE Jail
‘Vile’: Biden DHS to Turn Away Migrant Families Under ‘Expedited Removal’ Policy
Free the Children: Advocates Demand Biden Close Fort Bliss Detention Center Holding 800 Migrant Kids
ICE DISCUSSED PUNISHING IMMIGRANT ADVOCATES FOR PEACEFUL PROTESTS
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS ROUTINELY SENDING MEXICAN CHILDREN BACK TO DANGER, REPORT FINDS
Despite Immigration Pledges, Biden Admin Detains Thousands of Unaccompanied Migrant Children
Lastly, where was the outrage when US Border Patrol Agents were caught beating Haitians seeking asylum, reflected in the image below.
I say all of this not to be petty or stuck in the past, but to make it clear to people that the US government assault on undocumented immigrants is a constant and we have to come to terms with that fact. Just because the Obama or Biden Administrations didn’t use the same rhetoric when talking about immigrants, doesn’t mean that were not engaged in the same harmful human rights abuses that we tend to associate with the Republican Party and the Trump Administration. We need to take off our partisan blinders, see that the immigrant community is living in constant fear, and then practice solidarity on their terms, regardless of who sits in the White House.
See you all at the upcoming Movimiento Cosecha actions, May 1st through May 4th. Aqui Estamos y no nos Vamos!
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 
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