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The people are banding together to resist the Trump administration’s ongoing assault upon immigrant workers! They are mobilizing because the Democratic Party has not only failed to meaningfully protect our neighbors, they have actually helped build the legal and political conditions for the present situation. While not every ICE kidnapping can be stopped, organizers’ efforts have significantly impeded ICE’s attacks.
We must stand as a united working class to defend immigrant workers from kidnappings committed by masked agents of the state. These efforts are essential to protect the people in our community and build the capacity for a broader fight against President Donald Trump’s billionaire agenda. Ultimately, rapid response is defensive. Canvassing and the distribution of whistle kits are preemptive actions to harden an area against a raid by federal officers. However, purely defensive action itself cannot address the root cause of the current crisis. The working class, whose most vulnerable members are in the crosshairs of state repression and deportation, must use its position in society to put pressure on the ultrawealthy economic and political sponsors of the regime.
Traditionally, workers have struck back against abuses by the ruling class with the ultimate weapon at their disposal: the general strike. Those in power have made general strikes exceptionally difficult in the United States because it’s the ultimate tool to put pressure on corporate power. Such strikes have been incredibly effective at forcing concessions from them. For example, the decentralized general strike of slaves during the Civil War decisively factored in the defeat of the Confederacy. Decades later, organized labor used the tactic of a general strike to win us the eight-hour workday and New Deal reforms. Today, however, recognized unions face serious legal obstacles to officially leading or participating in a general strike due to anti-labor legislation passed in the aftermath of World War II.
Yet general strikes have proven to be just as powerful a tool in the 21st century. Twenty years ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. The bill would have made illegal residency in the U.S. a federal crime and criminalized any support for undocumented immigrants from citizens. In response to this monstrous law, the people responded with a one-day boycott and general strike on May 1, 2006. Over 1 million people participated, shaking the country by showing how essential immigrant labor is to its daily function. In response, federal politicians cowered and the bill died in the Senate. It was yet another test case in action that showed how a united working class can win concessions and fight back against oppression.
That boycott in 2006, now known as A Day Without an Immigrant, provides a blueprint for broadening the scope of resistance by workers against the deportation machine. Nationally, the call for a general strike has gained traction among working people. During the No Kings protest in October, the Party for Socialism and Liberation distributed literature about the history of the general strike to an overwhelmingly positive reception. People recognize the need for a more militant, popular resistance to Trump’s billionaire agenda. Working people make this country run, and we have the power to grind the economy to a halt to defend our communities and fight for our needs, rights and freedoms.
International Migrants Day on Thursday will be a day of visibility called for by Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste. This event is the first in a series seeking to build energy toward a massive mobilization on May 1, 2026 — exactly 20 years after the first Day Without an Immigrant demonstration. We must build momentum toward a statewide response to ICE terror and instill the idea of mass mobilization for a general strike into the popular consciousness of people across the U.S.
Thursday could represent the beginning of the organized resistance of all Oregonians who are horrified by the attacks on immigrants, and we need every individual to take a stand against state-sponsored terror. It is up to us to defend our neighbors, family members and co-workers. Now is the time! Join us in building the movement to defeat the kidnapping machine and get ICE out of Oregon!
