On Monday, December 9, Trump’s designated “Border Czar” Tom Homan announced at a Chicago Republican “holiday party” that Chicago will be “ground zero” for the Trump regime’s fascist mass deportations. Homan said a large force of immigration agents would be deployed to the city January 21, the day after Trump is scheduled to be sworn in, to go after “the bad guys.” Homan is setting the tone for the planned fascist attacks—terrorizing the immigrants in advance, while he taunts and threatens liberal officials like Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker.
Chicago is a “sanctuary city” and Illinois a “sanctuary state.” That means that the local government cannot cooperate in some significant ways with federal agencies that are charged with deporting immigrants. And Johnson and Pritzker have made defiant statements that they will protect immigrants from federal agents.
In reply, Homan said, “Chicago’s in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks.” Homan demanded that they cooperate with federal deportation enforcement and called on them to “come to the table.” Homan said if they won’t cooperate in these draconian crackdowns then “get the hell out of the way.”
The audience, which included a large number of police, greeted this with rousing cheers, according to news reporters.
What The “Sanctuary Laws” Do—and Do NOT—Do
These “sanctuary laws” prohibit police from aiding ICE agents in any way. In particular, local authorities are not allowed to inform ICE, or hand over to ICE, undocumented people who are arrested and detained in jail. And police are not allowed to ask for or record citizenship status when stopping or arresting them.
The obstacles these laws pose are significant but they do not, however, prevent federal agents from conducting raids and mass deportations in the city and state. Federal powers and presidential decrees override these local laws, and the Trump fascists may roll right over existing federal constraints and deport millions before any lawsuits are even heard in court.
But given the sharp splits among the rulers, what other political forces (including governors and mayors) do, in this situation, may—even inadvertently—contribute to the massive resistance so urgently needed.
What Is Urgently Needed
What is needed, in this situation, is what Bob Avakian (BA) has put forward in his social media message Number 111, “We revcoms are serious—and all decent people need to be serious—about actually defeating this Trump/MAGA fascism.”
Here is some of what he says in that message:
So, what does defeating this fascism actually mean—how can this actually happen? It means building and mobilizing a truly broad and determined mass movement—uniting all who can be united, in rapidly and continually growing numbers, all over the country—aiming to become so massive and powerful that it creates a profound political crisis, such that Trump cannot govern the country and implement his fascist program. (Boldface added here)
In this situation right now—against the full weight of the federal government, against the fact that the Supreme Court is packed with fascists, and against the fact that Trump plans to use the military in this massive deportation operation, a mass movement against this whole fascist agenda, that takes up especially serious attacks like this one—and aiming to defeat this fascism—is absolutely crucial.
Homan’s Very Brutal Plan
Undocumented immigrant children at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas. Photo: U.S Customs and Border Protection.
Homan is a diehard MAGA fascist. He led ICE under Trump when it launched its cruel, anti-human policy of separating more than 5,500 immigrant children from their parents. Over 1,400 of these little ones have still not been reunited with their families! Now, he is not even in office but is already brazenly threatening that if the mayor refuses to cooperate and tries to impede the federal immigration agents by “harboring and concealing” asylum seekers, he would be prosecuted and the city would be sued.
It would be stupid not to believe what Trump built a large part of his campaign on and has been threatening to do for months and years if he is again able to take the reins of power—which he is now about to do. He has said, over and over again, that he would declare a national emergency and use the military and to enforce the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” He has said families would be separated. And he has set the brutal and punishing goal of deporting 11 million or more undocumented people through massive roundups.
This must be opposed, and to conclude by drawing from the recent message from BA, ”This must begin, and begin to gather real momentum, before the scheduled Inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20 (2025). While taking part in protests against this Trump/MAGA fascism, people in all parts of the country need to get together, get organized, reach out broadly and continually call forth broader ranks of people, in rapidly growing bold, active, determined opposition to Trump/MAGA fascism overall, based on the clear orientation of building a massive movement all over the country, with the unifying, fundamental aim of defeating this fascism.”
Where Do the Immigrants Come From? From a Sheer Living Hell—Made in USA!
The immigrants that Trump, Vance and Homan are targeting have come here from hells created by the USA:
Hells created by American plundering of the economies and the environments of Central and South America, of Asia and of Africa.
Hells created by America murdering, or supporting and directing the murders, of tens of thousands and installing and backing up puppet governments in those same regions (see here and here).
Hells created by devastating sanctions that punish the ordinary people of those countries which, for whatever reason, defy America’s dictates.
Hells created by the massive industry of sexual enslavement and predation and the massive drug trade spawned by this monstrous empire.
Let’s make it real clear: America—which has perpetrated these crimes and many more—has no right to commit still more crimes by threatening and hounding people, kidnapping them, putting them in prison, separating them from their children and on and on. And people in this country have a right and responsibility to stand up in resistance to that.
Further: People in this country have a responsibility to get into and grapple with the actual solution to this problem: revolution, nothing less. In work after work, Bob Avakian has brought forward a sweeping, reality-based vision of the world humanity could have—a world not only beyond the worldwide hell created by capitalism-imperialism, but far beyond even the best of what previous socialist societies have done and even envisioned. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, by Bob Avakian, is a sweeping vision, firm foundation, and concrete blueprint for how we could start moving toward an emancipating world on Day One. Go here to read We Need And We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, A Fundamentally Different System, which popularizes key parts of this Constitution; here to read the Constitution itself; and here to read the entire section on immigration.
A word to those oppressed by this system—be they Black people, Latinos, even recent immigrants—who stand aside from or even cheer for this repression when it is rained down on immigrants:
In one section of a powerful social media message titled, “Black people hating on immigrants. Nonsense, and worse, from people who should know better,” Bob Avakian puts it like this:
So I have a question for any Black people today who are caught up in this hating on immigrants: Do you really want to be like the rabid white racists?
Or, do you want to put an end to this madness—that you, and the immigrants, are being put through?
It is this system that has put Black people through hell for centuries, and is still putting Black people through hell.
And it is this system of capitalism-imperialism that is putting masses of immigrants through hell—making life unliveable for tens of millions throughout the world—forcing them to leave their homes and homelands in a desperate search for a decent life, and then be exploited and discriminated against if they make it to the country most responsible for their miserable situation: this country, the imperialist USA.
Instead of being played to hate on and fight against each other, all the people who are oppressed, exploited, misused, abused, tormented and terrorized under this system—and all people who really care about justice—need to unite to rise up against, and put an end to, this system that is the cause of all this madness, injustice and atrocity.
And very importantly, in this moment now, there needs to be powerful unity built against attacks on immigrants, as part of overall massive resistance aiming to actually defeat Trump/MAGA fascism, as spoken to by Bob Avakian in his social media message #111.