This article describes a pro-immigrant protest in Los Angeles on July 4. It was a fitting way to mark U.S. Independence Day, given the Trump administration’s intensified workplace raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants. L.A. has been the epicenter of many such protests over the last month since the White House picked the city to launch its aggressive dragnet, carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, targeting millions of workers across the country.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/32817365

July 5, 2025

"The article below first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on July 5, 2025. The protest the article describes was a fitting way to mark US Independence Day, given the Trump administration’s intensified workplace raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants. L.A. has been the epicenter of many such protests over the last month since the White House picked the city to launch its aggressive dragnet, carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, targeting millions of workers across the country.

As a recent article published by the Washington Post revealed, ICE arrests have more than doubled since Trump took office in January, compared to the same period last year."

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    65·
    17 hours ago

    At this point, these aren’t even protests any more. They’re glorified parades. All they’ll accomplish is making people feel good about themselves for mildly going out of their way on their day off from work to attend a protest that will barely get any news coverage at all and will be all-but-forgotten by breakfast in the morning. They’re nice-and-neatly scheduled, at pre-approved places, held on the weekends, where they can easily be ignored by the very politicians that these people are protesting against in the first place.

    Wanna actually protest? I’m not saying pitchforks and torches and guns and stuff. Protest at the offices of these representatives. Make it impossible for those office workers to conduct business or even get into their office. Demand that your representative get on a god damned plane even if they’re in the middle of DC to fly home and address their concerns. Prepare to stay for days if you have to. Do not move even if the authorities tell you. Stay and camp. Block traffic. Prevent local businesses from conducting business until they also pressure the representatives to show up. If they do force you to disburse, show up the next morning. Let them waste resources driving you out every single day.

    Protest their houses too. Every single one they own, if they own multiple. Don’t let them sleep comfortably in their own beds. If they’re renting those homes to others, don’t let them sleep comfortably until they call their landlords and demand they show up. One way or another, make these representatives fear being pulled out of office by the short-and-curlies, if not outright fear for their lives.

    I mean, you can continue to pull your government-approved permits to hold government-approved protests at government-approved locations on a day that is most convenient for you, between the hours of 9 and 5 while making sure to not so much as mildly inconvenience the very people you’re protesting against, and then keep wondering why nothing ever changes. But if you can organize 10,000 people to show up at what amounts to a glorified Kumbaya session, you can have those people show up in front of their homes or offices just as easily and at least have a chance of putting real pressure on these people.