Thought I'd start a thread on stuff as there is now an emerging movement since the events in LA. For those not paying attention, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been engaging in pretty aggressive deportation tactics, often with face coverings and military equipment.
This erupted in protests and confrontations with ICE in Los Angeles. Although there was some property destruction and violence between protesters and ICE/LAPD, by all accounts it was limited to a few block radius in downtown LA. Even so, Trump activated the National Guard, and then active duty Marines and sent them there. I believe it was the first time either has been sent to LA since the 1992 riots. Both the LA mayor and California Governor objected to the deployment of the military and the Governor sued the federal government over it.
Here's a few articles that describe events in LA from June 10 and before.
Los Angeles Stands up to ICE by Crimethinc
News Roundup from It's Going Down
Chicago against ICE: “La migra, la policía, la misma porquería” by Crimethinc
Against deportation and imperialism: no war but the class war by Internationalist Workers' Group
Fire and Ice by Anonymous (From Ill Will site)
On Saturday, there were pretty large protests all over the country. They were called 'No Kings' and from what I was able to pick up, were primarily organized by 'Indivisible'. Indivisible came out of nowhere, but seems to be a primarily internet based, mostly older white liberal network. In Chicago, the march was about 70,000...likely the biggest march I've been to since living here. There were demonstrations in almost all major cities and many suburbs and medium sized cities you wouldn't expect to see a protest at.
Earlier in the day, some far-right Christian assassinated one Democratic Farmer-Labor Party state senator in Minnesota and her husband. He also shot another DFL state senator and his wife, but they are expected to recover. He was impersonating a police officer and had a list of targets that mostly included DFL politicians and abortion clinics. They found the words 'No Kings' in his fake squad car, which created a panic in Minnesota that while the manhunt was on, he might target the protests. So I believe most of those demos were cancelled. The alleged shooter was caught yesterday.
There was a shooting at a No Kings protest in Salt Lake City. It's unclear what happened. The narrative I'm seeing is that some leftist open carry guy was there and armed security for the march mistook him for a mass shooter. They chased him down, opened fire and hit a uninvolved bystander, killing him.
Oh, I forgot. A far-right…
Oh, I forgot. A far-right Senator for Missouri has subpoenaed a number of leftist and immigration rights groups, as part of a wingnut narrative of bankrolling riots. The Party of Socialism and Liberation was one of such groups. They no doubt are seeing additional attention from the federal government as the guy who was charged with shooting and killing two staffers from the Israeli embassy was allegedly a one-time associate or member of PSL.
Also, at the Chicago march I saw something I haven't seen in at least a decade...a group of young people all black bloc'd up with a green and black flag!
Wow what a blast from the…
Wow what a blast from the past.
And yes, I was looking into the shooting in Salt Lake City and it was really unclear. The guy who got shot was Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, a former contestant on Project Runway.
While most early media reports said he was a bystander, I saw a video from one of his personal friends on TikTok who said he was taking part in the protest. Some other media reports now seem to be acknowledging he was a protester himself.
Reports are confusing though. While people on social media seem to be blaming right-wingers, reports are saying that an armed "peacekeeper" for the protest shot him by accident while trying to shoot somebody else they thought was going to attack the crowd.
But it's not clear to me exactly who the armed peacekeepers were. Like JC says, seems like perhaps left-wing open carry types. A real mess either way.
But thanks for starting this thread!
I think it will be interesting to see if anything here develops into real resistance. Some of the community resistance to ICE seems really inspiring.
But these No Kings had a bit of a whiff of the pointless pussy hat marches of the first Trump administration…
thank you Juan, helpful…
thank you Juan, helpful round-up.
Some comments on the…
Some comments on the anonymously authored Ill Will article:
I'm not sure I would be praising the "spontaneity" arising from organized gangs or gangs' participation in the LA protests... even though the resistance against the Trump administration's goons has been great to see. If anything we need to be stepping away from—can't believe I'm having to say this—gangs and the social environments (e.g. capitalist poverty) that give rise to them.
I really wouldn't characterize the protesters as being mostly anarchist, especially given the amount of flag-waving there has been (e.g. of Mexican-American flags). It's also quite suspect relying on "the chief of the LAPD" to help understand what protesters' political affiliations are. It would be like listening to Trump whenever he talks about how the Democratic Party is filled with "Marxists" or describes China as "communist." From the few interviews I've seen of LA protesters, I definitely wouldn't describe the protests as being "full of anarchists," though I'm sure there have been some (actual, non-subcultural) anarchist participants.
I really don't get why "anti-authoritarian/anarchist" outlets like Ill Will and Crimethinc struggle with doing accurate reporting; they're all about hype and affirming their own political position regardless of what's actually happening. One can see this in the Crimethinc piece on the so-called "ungovernable protesters," in which there is no mention of the Mexican flag, despite its ubiquity and the fact that it has become for many a symbol of the LA protests. There is definitely an anarchist critique of nationalism that is absent in this piece and the aforementioned Crimethinc article.
I'm curious what sort of "revolutionary situation" the author envisions here and why they think we'd be on the verge of some "revolution" when the armed forces are deployed into the streets, which they already have been.
Ill Will wrote: X. These…
It's also worth noting that the pro-Palestine encampment protests, on the whole, were about as devoid of any serious anarchist/communist perspective on the Arab-Israeli Conflict as the radicals of the '60s and '70s were with respect to the National Liberation Front (i.e. the so-called Viet Cong). In fact a significant number of these activists, though thankfully not all of them, also think that the October 7 Attacks were some "justified" act of resistance and that there should be an Israeli-free one-state "solution" (they're again like the "Ameri-congs" of the '60s and '70s, especially with their sympathy for Hamas). So let's please not suggest that anarchism, or any other sort of serious socialist politics, was a dominant feature of the encampment protests of last year or of the current pro-Palestine protests in the US.
I have heard from liberal…
I have heard from liberal Youtube news sources that the No Kings protest had 5 or 6 million people participating across the country. While it shows that people are willing to do something, I would rather see that much effort poured into organizing where we live or work. Have people taking to the streets to march and wave banners achieved anything substantial within the last ten or fifteen years? I seriously do not know the answer to that.
I really don't get why "anti…
It's not that complicated. It's propaganda meant to inspire the "troops". That's not something that's unusual. Plenty of leftist groups and writers do this. I've been part of projects that did this. For example, IWW organizing campaigns that were for sure a defeat but we spun some perceived 'victories' out of it so to not demoralize everyone. I was looking through 1945 issues of Direct Action and they describe a Spanish anarchist conference in France in very successful and optimistic terms. You wouldn't know from reading it that there was intense internal conflict that led to a split.
Also, this is less relevant to the Ill Will piece, but when you're publishing something that is directed at a movement or project that you have critiques of...it can't just be criticism. You want to elevate positive aspects of it, even if you don't think they are perfect, in order to not be seen as a crank.
I agree with some aspects of what you're saying about seeing some inherent anarchist or socialist thing out of mass movements. That is also super common. Crimethinc comes out of a lifestyle approach to anarchism, so it makes sense they see people's actions as something inherently anarchist. There are plenty of pieces here in libcom about East Germany 1953, Hungary 1956 etc etc that see the events as confirming their personal political self-identifier, which the majority of historians or even participants would disagree with.
I disagree with your comments about the Mexican flag. I don't think in this context that it means some kind of national or ethnic chauvinism. If you listen to people they talk to at the protests, for most it's meant to represent their national/ethnic origin in the context of demonization and national/ethnic targeting. They say things like "I'm an American but this is where I/my family is from and I'm not ashamed of it".
I'm not going to act like I know the answer as to what will work when it comes to the short-term opposition to what the Trump crime family is doing. The US saw the largest civil unrest of my lifetime in May-June 2020 and we got almost nothing out of it besides superficial DEI programs that are now subject to a reactionary rollback. I thought the worse pandemic of any our lifetimes and the deaths of millions would force the US to reconsider its model of private healthcare or at least its generalized attitude of selfish individualism. Nope!
In case anyone is interested…
In case anyone is interested what various leftist groups are saying, here's some samples.
To Kick ICE Out Requires Action, To Keep Them Out Requires Organization from Black Rose Anarchist Federation
End the Raids, Lift the Ban, Drop the Charges! DSA Stands with Immigrants from DSA (Democratic Socialist of America)
¡CHINGA LA MIGRA! Statement on the Los Angeles Anti-I.C.E. Protests by Mass Struggle
Trump Declares War On Immigrants & Protesters: Fight National Guard With Working-Class Power by Socialist Alternative
ICE out of Los Angeles! National Guard Out of LA from BAMN (Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary)
Trump raises the ante in Los Angeles from Workers Voice
ICE Out of LA! Workers Defend Themselves Against Trump’s Raids from Revolutionary Communists of America
-La Raza Built Los Angeles: All Labor Must Beat Back Trump from Workers Vanguard (Spartacist League)
The DSA one is notable to me, as parts of them sometimes flirt with what I consider xenophonic protectionism, restricted border policy or just crude anti-migrant rhetoric. Jeanette Taylor, a DSA alderman in Chicago, fought against a migrant shelter being put in her ward. She engaged in black vs brown zero-sum portrayal of politics and resources, talked about diseases the migrants might have, etc. Straight up far-right talking points on this stuff. That's the most egregious example I've seen. But there's been DSA adjacent media that has platformed various anti-identity politics type people who also have these views.
There have been the expected…
There have been the expected calls to non-violence and condemnations of 'violence' from various quarters.
Bernie Sanders on Twitter/X:
Communist Party USA
This Guest Editorial in New York Times from some academics
There were also various figures arguing that the No Kings demos and/or anti-ICE protests should abandon all flags other than the American one, so as to show that the dissidents are patriotic.
I tend to agree with this…
"... meant to inspire the "troops". ...... . For example, IWW organizing campaigns that were for sure a defeat but we spun some perceived 'victories' out of it so to not demoralize everyone."
I tend to agree with this assessment. I think most of us engaged in various struggles try to extrapolate things we would consider positive out of half victories and often times losses. Particularly if there are chances of getting back into the fight down the road And the need to keep some form of "base" together.Or simply take a high ground organizational position, where folks will remember "you" in some form of positive manner. It's not always the fun thing to do. And one doesn't want to be dishonest or stretch the reality too far.
It's not that complicated…
That's sort of the problem: it's just propaganda meant to "inspire" and draw the gullible in rather than provide an actual analysis of events guided by a consistent communist perspective. (I'm also not referring to the ICT's stuff, which is generally much more balanced and serious than the sort of sensationalist nonsense Crimethinc and Ill Will put out.) Why even bother sharing it if that's the case? They're just telling their followers what they want to hear. It would also be different if the Crimethinc or Ill Will articles actually contained constructive criticisms, but there really aren't any in the two articles mentioned above. In fact, it seems like they're instead accommodating flag-waving patriotism now, likely in order to remain relevant in the face of protests that are clearly not "anarchist" or socialist in any way. Again, that is not to say that the protests are without their positive aspects, such as people's resistance to the Trump administration's deportation drive and authoritarian policies, but sensationalism and lying do not really provide the foundations for transcending capitalist social relations.
I would personally feel disgusted if I had Indigenous ancestry in the Southwest (e.g. the Hopis) and saw people waving Mexican flags and invoking the past geographical extent of the Mexican state, especially with the knowledge of what Spanish colonialism had done to Native Americans in this region. It's also not just the Mexican flag that protesters are flying, but also American and Mexican-American flags (i.e. to either demonstrate how they're proud Americans or how they're Americans who are proud of their Mexican roots). A communist/anarchist outlook really is incompatible with any kind of nationalism or national pride (whether anarchists and communists have been always faithful to this internationalist perspective, which they haven't, is an entirely different matter), seeing as how such thinking encourages a discriminatory, us-versus-them mentality and is part of the bourgeois attempt to divide workers against one another along national lines. Flying the flag of any state is absolutely a problem—and should be criticized—regardless of whether someone is advocating an anarchist/communist position or not.
Juan Conatz wrote: I really…
Given that’s been the general strategy for the past 80 years or so, and currently radicalism is nonexistent if not the absolute shits, don’t you think there’s some correlation? Owl of Minerva flies at night and it’s far too late for recriminations, but brutal honesty about how dire things were would have probably increased our fortunes. Just as an outsider, I don’t see any indication these will go anywhere.
A woman is in critical…
A woman is in critical condition after being hit by a SUV who drove through a No Kings march in Riverside, California.
In Virginia, a man was arrested after intentionally driving towards No Kings protesters with a SUV and hitting a person
A woman in LA was purposefully run over by a car during the No Kings protest.
4 No Kings marchers were injured in San Francisco when they were hit by a vehicle .
The journalist Ken Klippenstein published an article critical of Minnesota law enforcement for fueling conspiracy theories about the shooter of two Democratic Farmer Labor Party state senators and their spouses. Many of the conspiracy theories involve falsely portraying the shooter as some kind of leftist, when he is by all accounts a far-right, anti-abortion, conservative Christian who voted for Trump. Some of these theories have been endorsed by Republican members of the US Congress.
Chicago Mag, a sort of lifestyle magazine produced by the more right-wing newspaper in Chicago, published a mocking article of Trotskyist groups they encountered during Saturday's march.
Thanks for the write ups…
Thanks for the write ups Juan. Long time!
Apparantly, ICE last week…
Apparantly, ICE last week issued a directive that it was to no longer do raids at farms, hotels or restaurants. As this seemed to happen around the pinnacle of the events in LA were happening, I suppose you could chalk that up to the protests and clashes with federal law enforcement potentially influencing this. But as MSNBC has reported, this directive has been rescinded and reestablished around multiple times in the last week.
The Governor of Illinois, billionaire Democrat J.B. Pritzker said in a Senate hearing in response to the prospect of being arrested by Trump's so-called border czar: "He can try." He qualifies that statement a bit after, but still pretty crazy to see such rhetoric between the federal government and some state Governors.
I missed mentioning it before in reference to LA, but the deployment of the military to a state against the wishes of a Governor hadn't happened since Kennedy sent them to Alabama in 1963 to enforce integrated schools.
Current NYC Comptroller and Democrat candidate for New York mayor was arrested by ICE today after he was helping escorts people out of immigration court to apparently avoid surprise ICE detainments.
Some older new I missed
On June 8th, a protest popped up at a hotel in Pasadena, CA after it was discovered some ICE agents were staying there. Some of their vehicles had their tires slashed and it seems some of the agents decided not to stay there.
On June 10th, immigration court proceedings were cancelled for the day in San Francisco after anti-ICE activists learned ICE would be targeting people after their hearings. Protesters blockaded the doors and surrounded the building.
On June 12, there was a minor uprising of ICE detainees in a detention center in New Jersey.
Juan Conatz wrote:…
Yeah, while the timing at the peak of the protests might suggest that, most mainstream media reporting, like the New York Times, says it was because business interests in those industries basically complained to Trump saying it was costing them money. Given that Trump kind of want these kinds of violent protests taking place in Democratic cities so he can then send in federal forces, I think this explanation is much more credible.
Trump even posted on Truth Social saying how these industries were losing long-term workers who couldn't be replaced. He even tried to win over immigration hawks by saying that these long-term, good workers, might be replaced by violent criminals if the long-term workers got deported.
I mean obviously this makes no sense. But it is evidence of cracks appearing in his coalition, between big business, and racists.
Have seen it mentioned that…
Have seen it mentioned that the No Kings protests on Saturday were the largest in US history. Not sure how true that is, but it was large. There were protests in places you don't usually see such things. It was so large and happened in so many places that it has been tough to keep up with everything that happened...even days later.
A man under a conservatorship due to mental health issues was arrested at the Nashville march for threatening people with a firearm.
Another man was arrested a No Kings protest in a Philadelphia exurb for having weapons on him. They later found homemade bombs at his house. No details on the guy's motive, intent or politics.
LA Sherrif's Department deployed 'less lethal' munitions on protesters on Saturday, a few hours before the downtown curfew.
An El Salvadoran reporter who fled his home country due to death threats and who has recently been concentrating on covering immigration raids and their aftermath was arrested at the Atlanta march and is now facing deportation.
Two people were arrested in connection with the hit and run in Riverside, California that left a young woman who was protesting seriously injured. There is a GoFundMe to assist the family of the woman.
3 US citizens were arrested and later released after alledgely assualting an ICE officer at a protest on Monday in Chicago. They were grabbed by masked men who did not identify themselves and were transfered between different federal buildings until apparantly the Mayor sent staff to assist the families of those detained and that seemingly played some part in the 3 people being released? Doesn't seem they've been charged with anything yet.
Mother Jones published a story about a rapid response group that rushes to the scene of ICE appearences. I think this kind of thing is becoming pretty common around the country. Mostly informal and internet based.
Hundreds of people packed a city council meeting in Santa Ana, California to chastise the mayor over his negative response to the anti-ICE protests, which has seen clashes with federal law enforcement.
The curfew in downtown LA has been lifted as the protests have died down. However, according to other articles, ICE raids are actually increasing in Southern California.
There's been a few articles about various immigration detention facilities and their abhorrant conditions, such as this one in Burlington, Massachusetts.
IWA/AIT Secretariat: …
IWA/AIT Secretariat:
“SOLIDARITY WITH THE PROTESTS AGAINST FASCISM in the United States (and around the world)
Today people take to the streets to protest the fascist actions of the US President. These actions are known as "No Kings Day" but what is needed is really a "No Government Day" because, as much as people recognize that the authoritarian and savage nature of the current government needs to be confronted, more awareness is needed about how governance in general has taken power away from ordinary people and concentrated it into the hands of a few - all in service of capital, repression, militarism and against the uniting of people as a class force to not only stop the harmful policies and actions of the governments, but to build a new world of equals which will run things themselves, based on the best interests of ALL society.“
Link: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1122666973236704&set=a.464396842397057
More information is coming…
More information is coming out about the shooting in Salt Lake City by protest "peacekeepers" who accidently killed a protestor. It kind of seems like it was a clash between two different but newish developments in progressive or leftist demos in the US: left-wing open carry and armed security for the demo. The national 50501 Organization, one of the groups organizing No Kings, says they cut ties with the SLC branch for having armed security.
The Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Los Angeles Dodgers says they refused to allow ICE officers from entering the parking lot this morning. ICE denies they were ever there.
People in LA have started putting up 'Missing' posters of people detained by ICE.
According to ICE, hundreds of protesters 'stormed' an ICE facility in Portland. Several people were arrested.
ICE has implemented new rules barring unannounced visits by members of Congress.
There were protests outside a hotel where ICE officers were rumored to be staying in Pomona, California.
A local rapper and runner-up on the Netflix series Rhythm + Flow returned an honor he received from the local government of his hometown Santa Ana, California. He did this because the mayor condemned the anti-ICE protests.
A member of the local government of a small town on the border of Mighigan and Ohio responded with the following when No Kings organizers announced a demo: "Send them to my shop. I’ll have four different militias there. It’ll be a freakin’ party,”. The person also owns a gun store.
A journalist for a newspaper in San Diego says a column critical of ICE was rejected by the publisher and then she was fired.
As far as less mainstream…
As far as less mainstream pieces, Crimethinc has released two additional posts on the recent events. One is a short "Postscript on Legalism":
They also published "We Are Not Demonstrating, We Are Fighting: Migrant Defense in Seattle, June 9-14"
Black Rose Anarchist Federation published "Organizing to Keep ICE Out of Your Workplace".
Jeremy Brecher posted on his PM Press blog, a piece titled "Social Self-Defense: From Protest to Movement-Based Opposition". To me it reads not much different than what the main progressive/liberal groups organizing No Kings are saying. Like seemingly most who were once part of the councilist influenced Root & Branch group, his politics have moderated over the years.
Here's a typically verbose account of some anarchists "taking over" some streets in Phoenix during a protest.
Some NYPD vehicles were firebombed in solidarity with the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
Jeremy Brecher posted on his…
If I recall correctly, he also implied police could be class allies in the latest version of Strike!. Nothing against Brecher or his book, but it is bit of a blemish on an otherwise great work. At least the No Kings protests are better than nothing (if even...), which is usually what we can expect from the Democratic/centrist types.
I was in Wisconsin at this…
I was in Wisconsin at this time and disagree with Brecher's take on the police, but this is off-topic.
Going back to the Dodgers refusing ICE entry into their parking lot. It looks like it actually may have been Border Patrol. You can forgive the Dodgers for being confused, as both are government agencies that enforce immigration law and have started dressing like cartel sicarios since Trump was elected.
Vice President and noted lover of couches, J.D. Vance, appeared in Los Angeles to justify the military deployment, blame the Governor and Mayor for the unrest and called Alex Padilla, a Democratic Senator who was manhandled and cuffed at a Homeland Security press conference , "Jose Padilla".
Protesters and federal agents clashed in Maywood, California over possible ICE raids.
The 'open-carry' guy who was shot at by armed security hired by No Kings protest organizers in Salt Lake City has been released from jail by order of a judge. He has not been charged with anything as of yet.
The Columbia student who the Trump Administration attempted to deport because of his anti-Gaza War activism was released on bail today after months of wrangling in the courts.
A guy who hit protestors with his Tesla at the No Kings march in San Francisco was arrested and charged.
The New York City Bar Association released a statement condemning the new practice of ICE agents wearing masks and trying to conceal their identity.
Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has proposed creating a concentration camp for migrants in the Florida Everglades that would be surrounded by alligators and snakes.
In southeast Los Angeles…
In southeast Los Angeles County, protesters rushed to an ICE raid at a car wash and faced off with masked men in military fatigues. Homeland Security claims 2 vehicles were attacked, with one of them being totaled.
I haven't been able to keep up with any targeting of protest organizers, but it looks like in Los Angeles, the FBI has been going after some, including an organizer with a Latino civil rights group.
There were anti-ICE protests in Albuquerque (New Mexico), Salem (Oregon), and dozens (more?) of other cities and towns across the US.
Someone leaked ICE data to the journalist Ken Klippenstein. Apparantly, 1/3 of the deported from the LA area from October 2024-June 2025 did not have criminal records.
The next national No Kings protests have been called for July 17th.
Apologies for derailing. I…
Apologies for derailing. I have split the discussion about Brecher and Strike here: https://libcom.org/discussion/police-class-solidarity-and-strike
Here's an article on the…
Here's an article on the anti-ICE protests in Portland, which similar to 2020, they seem to be continuing where things have died down a bit elsewhere.
Reportback of 'autonomous' demo against ICE in Phoenix.
A woman who drove through an anti-ICE protest in Chicago, hitting and injuring a woman before driving off, was arrested.
There was a protest at the National Sheriffs' Association conference. The protestors were demanding that Sherrifs cease working with ICE. They delivered a petition signed by a large number of religious leaders.
The ICE office in San Francisco (temporarily?) closed after protesters attempting to stop an ICE van with detainees from leaving, which resulted in minor scuffles with federal agents.
The FBI has opened up an investigation into the 'vice-mayor' of a surbuban LA county town after she posted a video guilt tripping gang members for not organizing to defend their communities from ICE.
Informative article about…
Informative article about the shooting of 2 protesters in Salt Lake City by No Kings "peacekeepers" by Unicorn Riot: https://unicornriot.ninja/2025/protest-peacekeepers-shot-two-people-at-a-march-in-salt-lake-city-one-died-the-went-to-jail/
There were some protests of…
There were some protests of Palantir the other day. Some people were arrested. Palantir is a tech company that specializes in data collection and analysis. They were founded by noted far-right tech cultist Peter Thiel. The Trump Administration has been working with them to unify the US federal governments information on people, which many believe will be used for repression, deportations and political retialiation.
There was an anti-ICE march in Pittsburgh last night.
A number of press groups have released statements against what has happened to Mario Guevara. He is the El Salvadoran journalist who fled to the US and who has recently been covering immigration raids and their aftermath.
The Trump Administration has now been talking about "Iran sleeper cells" and seems to have directed ICE to target Iranians in the US.
Nothing surprising, but a study by the "libertarian" think tank the CATO Institute says 2/3 of ICE detainees have no criminal record. Not that most needed any confirmation, but the myth that the Trump Administration and ICE is targeting violent criminals is just propaganda.
It seems the anti-ICE efforts are consolidating around two forms, depending on ICE's tactics:
-Rapid Response Networks - these seem to be phone trees or text message lists that alert when ICE has been spotted and then people rush there to protest. ICE doesn't really want to deal with eyes on them, so it doesn't take much for them to leave when groups of people show up.
-Constant presence at 'check-in' offices - one of the things ICE is doing is requiring sudden 'check-ins' and then detaining those people when they come on. So people have been maintaining a continious presence at these offices which has been said to have had some effect.