International Migrant’s Day March
On December 18th, International Migrants Day, 150 grassroots migrant organizations, coalitions, and allies marched from the Embassy of El Salvador to the Embassy of the Philippines, Embassy of Peru, Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago, and ended in a rally at DuPont Circle.
These organizations came together to protest the collusion between these representations of fascist governments worldwide and the U.S. who are complicit in the ongoing and escalating U.S.-led militarism in their homelands and communities here. They connected their causes and struggles as migrants whose families and communities are being kidnapped, detained, traumatized, and killed through the U.S. immigration system supported by their own countries' governments. Simultaneously, organizers assert that this "war on migrants" is linked to increased militarization and policing locally and U.S. military and political aggression internationally.
At the closing rally at Dupont Circle, Merawi Gerima of DCAARPR spoke on behalf of the Families Not Feds Coalition, connecting the demonstration to the local situation in Washington D.C. where local police forces directly collaborate with ICE, DHS, and HSI to further brutalize Black and Brown communities. Gerima called out the need to continue pressuring Councilwoman Brooke Pinto through the Families Not Feds campaign to demand accountability for the crimes of MPD and hold a hearing on MPD/ICE collaboration.
We say no to deportations! End the criminalization of all migrants!
