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Friend, We have just crossed a bright red line. Over the weekend, Donald Trump deployed military troops against his own people. Hundreds of National Guardsmen used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs while attacking protesters in front of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.(1) This deployment comes just days after the president of the SEIU-CA union, David Huerta, was injured and detained by ICE agents while he observed a warehouse raid.(2) The people of Los Angeles are speaking out about the grotesque violence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement against our own communities, and the use of the National Guard against these protesters is an untenable escalation. We must speak out loudly against the Trump administration’s use of violence against its own nation.
While standing silently in protest of ICE actions in downtown Los Angeles, Huerta was shoved to the ground so forcefully by ICE agents that he had to be hospitalized for a head injury -- after which the immigration agency detained the public advocate without cause. He is still incarcerated.(3) During Huerta’s arrest and the detention of 44 other individuals, ICE used smoke grenades and pepper spray on protestors.(4) Now tanks and National Guard are lining the streets of Los Angeles. The National Guard has not been deployed against a governor’s wishes in 60 years. Governor Newsom has called it a “serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation.”(5) Meanwhile, Trump posted “BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” online and told reporters to expect “troops everywhere."(6) It’s Los Angeles today. Tomorrow, it could be your town. If you want to stand with thousands of people demanding that ICE free David Huerta and End Raids, you can find a location here. But no matter where you are, please help us call on the U.S. Senate to put an end to this military escalation and prevent ICE from attacking protesters. Thank you for being with us!
–Irene, along with Annie, Angela, Isidra, Cecilia, Jen, and Lindsay (the Courage team)
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