Los Angeles is just the beginning – Organize Now!

Labor organizers in Los Angeles reflect on counterprotests against the brutal ICE raids in LA and offer tools for fighting back in the face of growing violent fascist repression nationwide. 

Over the past weeks, the Trump Administration initiated a wave of violent repression in Los Angeles targeting immigrants, workers, and organizers. On Friday, June 6th, ICE launched brutal raids across our city, sweeping up our neighbors and coworkers in a coordinated campaign of terror. The ICE attacks were accompanied by a militarized crackdown on protesters. The National Guard and even U.S. Marines were deployed to suppress protests and escalate tensions.

ICE targeted SEIU California/USWW President David Huerta, who was violently detained and charged while peacefully observing an ICE operation. The state is criminalizing both undocumented workers and all those who stand with them. 

On June 6, we were on the ground in the Fashion District with fellow community members and organizers. We protested at a clothing warehouse besieged by federal agents in tactical gear who were forcibly removing about 30 workers. 

The state responded to our peaceful protest with flashbangs and tear gas. We were met with military force for trying to defend civil liberties and our community.  Close ties between labor, DSA-LA, and other community groups—organized solidarity—enabled our rapid response, high turnout, and ability to provide helpful support on the ground. Without coordination between labor, immigrant rights groups, tenant unions, and socialists, we would have been scattered and frustrated. Instead, we stood together.

We see important lessons. This is not just about Los Angeles in spring 2025 and it’s not just about ICE. The second Trump Administration increasingly uses fascist rhetoric and tactics. The federal budget  currently under debate would put the Department of Homeland Security alone in the top 10 military budgets in the world. With a militarized national police, Trump will not stop in LA.

We urge everyone reading this to take action. If you are not already organized and organizing, now is the time. Join or renew your commitment to DSA or YDSA, connect with local immigrant rights groups, get involved in your labor union or help build one. Organize a tenants union or build a democratic bottom-up student union on your campus. Join YDSA’s labor committee every Tuesday in July for their 4th annual Red Hot Summer Training Series. You’ll connect with students and experienced labor organizers from across the country and learn how to organize your workplace and fight alongside your community. We need a multiracial, multigenerational, working-class movement ready to fight. We need to be everywhere, on campuses, in workplaces, in the streets. This is not a fight we can win as individuals. It will take mass, organized resistance for the long haul.

What happened in LA is just a flashpoint. Build mass organization so we can take on the crises of today and be ready for the next fight.