ICE protests descend into mashup of left-wing rally cries as Gaza and police brutality chants drown out immigration
Protests against immigration raids conducted by the Trump administration have morphed into demonstrations against a variety of left-wing causes, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza and police brutality in the U.S.
At a 'March to Defend Immigrant Rights' protest in St. Louis on Wednesday, participants turned to the outcry following an infamous police brutality case in 2014, chanting, 'From Ferguson to Palestine, occupation is a crime,' according to The New York Times.
In Chicago this week, chants could be heard at a protest taking aim at U.S. immigration policy as well as the war in Gaza: 'From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go!'
The left has long worked under the notion that all oppressed people are connected, which means protests are often large but also lack a coherent message.
Labor groups have been leading the charge this week to bring protests into the streets. Numerous protests, including those in Los Angeles, have primarily focused on immigration raids conducted at workplaces. However, other protests have focused on a wide variety of causes and concerns.
The earlier protests have been coordinated by major groups such as MoveOn and Indivisible. Those groups have worked to keep the focus on issues such as Medicaid and Social Security cuts, the influence of billionaires, as well as immigration policies.
However, this week, protests also included issues such as racial justice, Palestinian rights, and socialist policies.
The largest individual union in the U.S., the National Education Association, took action when the protests began in Los Angeles. Other groups that have taken on leadership roles include local chapters of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. They have worked with local leftist groups to share information about demonstrations all over the country.
Supporters of Palestinian rights have appeared at protests in several places, including Chicago and New York. As the march in St. Louis came to an end on Wednesday, several groups attempted to garner support for queer rights, Black Lives Matter, and for tornado victims.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation, Voices for Palestine Network, Black Men Build St. Louis, and the Ecosocialist Green Party all took to social media to promote the march in St. Louis, according to The Times.
'St. Louis is a small city, and a lot of the people that care about organizing for human rights tend to all work loosely with each other through an unofficial coalition,' activist Kaitlyn Killgo told the paper.
Democrats have discussed the possibility, following their losses in 2024, that treating all issues as equally vital may have damaged their appeal.
The executive director of the low-income and immigrant advocacy group Mission Action, Laura Valdez, called the ICE arrest of a Los Angeles labor leader 'a four-alarm fire.'
Following the Friday video of the detention of the labor leader, Mission Action was taking part in protests by Monday, which was a reaction to the Trump administration's immigration raids.
Left-leaning groups could quickly gather people to protest, as they had been protesting Trump's policies for most of the year.
'Emergency protest: solidarity with LA! We'll see y'all tomorrow at the state capitol to say 'ICE out of our cities! Stop the deportations!'' the Austin, Texas chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation wrote on social media on Monday.
Similarly, also on Monday, the New York workers' rights group the People's Forum, told supporters there would be a protest on Tuesday backing Los Angeles.
'We refuse to be silenced! The people of New York City demand ICE get out of our communities, stop the deportations, and stop the raids,' they said.
Leaders of progressive groups often speak to each other several times a day about how the Trump administration's policies impact their communities. Such groups have also taken steps to educate immigrants, students, educators, and religious leaders about their rights as well as provide legal help and mutual aid. The network reacted swiftly after ICE agents started going into workplaces in Los Angeles last week.
'We could see that the government had decided it would be more effective to apprehend hundreds of people through workplace enforcement rather than having several agents try to go after one person at a time,' said Valdez.
This comes as widespread protests have been planned for Saturday across the country, coinciding with the military parade in Washington, D.C.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday and Tehran's vows of reprisals have brought the two Middle East adversaries closer to an all-out war, which also threatens to draw in the United States, at least to some degree. So how do the militaries of Iran and Israel stack up against each other? Iran boasts a large standing force but also relies on proxies and undercover operations that have been severely disabled in recent months by U.S. and Israeli actions. Israel, meanwhile, relies on both subterfuge and robust regular ground and air forces that are apparently unmatched in the region. Though roughly equal in the number of troops, the two militaries bring strikingly different tactics and firepower. On paper, Iran would seem to have an advantage in numbers, with 88 million people and a land area of 1.6 million square kilometers (618,000 square miles) compared to Israel's 9 million people and 22,000 square kilometers (8,500). Militarily however, those numbers mean little. 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Iran, however, does have the ability to produce a wide range of UAV's and similar equipment, typified by the Shahed attack drones it has sold to Russia in large numbers for use in the war in Ukraine. The security of its top commanders has been a recurring problem from Iran, with the head of the Revolutionary Guards Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, among those who killed in Friday's strikes in Tehran. Top nuclear scientists were also killed. Other senior commanders have been killed in recent strikes around the region. Iran's nuclear program has advanced in recent years, and it is believed to have developed enough uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels to produce multiple nuclear weapons in a matter of months if it took the decision to do so. But Iran would need even more time to develop a missile or other means of weaponizing them. Israel does not appear inclined to take that chance, however, having already struck facilities manufacturing nuclear material and ballistic missiles. Israel's formidable land, sea and air forces are derived from both the latest U.S. and European technology as well as a robust domestic defense industry that can design, build and sustain a full range of armaments, allowing it to take on opponents on multiple fronts at the same time. For a small nation it also has a considerable supply of troops, with about 170,000 active duty forces and another 400,000 reserves. Though fewer than Iran, Israel's forces have been battle hardened by regional conflicts. One option for Iran's counterstrike may include hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel, though how long that could be sustained is unclear. In October 2024, a massive Iranian missile assault on Israel caused only limited damage, partly because of U.S. help in shooting down Iranian missiles. 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