Aurora CO – On March 17, at 11 p.m., a growing crowd of around 40 community members gathered outside the GEO Group ICE Processing Center in Aurora for a vigil to protest the unjust detention of Jeanette Vizguerra. Among those present are activists, a news crew, indigenous people burning sacred herbs, and the family members of Vizguerra.

Vizguerra is an undocumented community organizer and has long been a champion of people’s freedom. Her consistent support of people’s struggles has led a variety of supporters to come to her aid, and protest ICE and its attempts to tear her away from her family.

Alfredo Carbajal, an organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO described the vigil, saying, “It was very somber, obviously the family was having a rough go of it, not knowing whether she’s doing okay. It seemed very sad, but they were grateful to have folks show up in support.”

Vizguerra was abducted by ICE from her place of work without warning. ICE appears to be ready to deport her, even though the agency does not have a valid deportation order. Though her attorneys have raised these violations of law, ICE ripped her from her family and the community.

Vizguerra was taken to the GEO Group ICE Processing Center, an ICE prison located in Aurora, Colorado at 3130 Oakland Street. The GEO Group facility has been the subject of multiple large protests over the last few months, with families of those being held there reporting that their loved ones are being “treated like animals,” and subjected to solitary confinement.

One participant in the vigil was Daranee Teng, an educator by trade and an organizer with Shoes Off Collective, an Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander community organization. Tang stated, “I’ve worked for many years on the North Side of Denver with undocumented students, and I remember in 2013 when ICE came after Jeanette, and I remember in 2017 when she took sanctuary in churches.” Tang continued, “I know there are folks that don’t like that she speaks out, but I think that’s what we need more of.”

Those gathered in front of the GEO Group building kept watch over the possible exits where Vizguerra could be taken, wary that she might be transported in the dead of night and disappeared to another facility or deported. Organizing into shifts to watch the gates through the night and into the next day, the community is preparing to stand firm.

ICE and the Aurora Police Department have worked together in open violation of Colorado law. According to the Colorado ACLU, “State law additionally prohibits depriving a person of their liberty on the basis of a suspected civil immigration violation in the absence of a warrant signed by a judge.”

Vizguerra is an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian struggle for liberation and does not hesitate to oppose the U.S. war machine. It is clear that the illegal detention of Jeanette Vizguerra is politically motivated, as she has long been a resident of Colorado, living and working here but also participating in the people’s struggle for freedom from oppression.

Vizguerra’s family and community are concerned for her safety inside the GEO Detention Center. They are demanding that ICE reestablish communication between Vizguerra and her family, so that they can know she’s safe.

#AuroraCO #CO #ImmigrantsRights #CSO #ShoesOffCollective #Featured

Napa, CA – The month of March began with a powerful display of solidarity in Wine Country, as community members rallied and marched in support of their immigrant neighbors.

On March 1, a sunny Saturday afternoon, the streets of downtown Napa buzzed with tourists sampling wine and fine dining. But cutting through the soft background of jazz music, the chants of “From Napa Valley to LA, immigrants are here to stay!” rang out, demanding attention.

Marching alongside other local organizations, including North Bay CSO, demonstrators made their way down Napa’s busy restaurant-lined streets. Workers stepped out to high-five marchers, offering gestures of support. The procession continued past the Napa Police Department and City Hall before culminating at Memorial Park, overlooking the Napa River.

A CSO member and Napa resident originally from Michoacán, Mexico, reflected on the significance of the march, stating, “Napa is an interesting place with a lot of Trump supporters. Their hate is ridiculous, especially in a land that doesn’t belong to them, it can feel intimidating, but at the same time, it motivates me to be loud and let it be known that immigrants are here to stay.”

She added, “The fact that so many people are marching today makes me feel hopeful. This is why I show up.”

Another CSO member, Xulio Soriano, reminded the crowd of the land’s deeper history, stating, “The Wappo are the original people of this land. They cared for the river and the soil – the same land that makes ‘Wine Country’ so fertile today. I am an immigrant, and I am here to stay!”

Napa Valley is often seen as a playground for the wealthy, a destination for indulgence. But on this day, the community sent a clear message: Wine Country runs on immigrant worker power, and they will not be ignored.

#NapaCA #CA #ImmigrantRights #CSO #NBCSO #Feature

Aurora, CO – On February 8, around 50 community members gathered outside Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, to protest the base’s collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the detention of immigrants.

Organized by Aurora Unidos CSO and Denver Anti-War Action, the protest was part of a larger national week of action by the Legalization for All Network.

Protesters voiced their opposition to the role the base would play in the Trump administration's plans for mass deportations. Yoselin Corrales, an organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, said, “Today, we are here to fight against recent discussions to potentially detain and imprison our neighbors on the Buckley Space Force Base.”

The protest comes in the wake of a controversial announcement in late January, wherein the U.S. Military’s Northern Command revealed plans to make facilities at Buckley Space Force Base available to ICE to set up processing and staging areas for detained immigrants at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.

Speakers at the rally emphasized the strength of the community coming together to fight, with Brandon Gehrke, another organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, addressing the crowd, “We keep us safe – not ICE, not the military, not those who seek to use fear to control us. When we stand together, we are stronger than any force that tries to break us. Together, we will demand legalization for all. and put an end to these harmful and inhumane operations.”

Jason Crow, congressman for Colorado’s 6th District, recently reported that the base has agreed to only use the base for staging and logistics for now, but this is likely only temporary. The scale of deportation being discussed by the Trump administration’s “Operation Aurora” requires expansions of ICE’s detention capacity. Currently, Aurora has a processing center that holds around 1500 people, operated by GEO Group, a private for-profit prison corporation.

Aurora Unidos CSO pledges to stand opposed to the expansion of ICE’s capacity to detain people and calls on all people to actively hinder the ability of the Trump administration to carry out their racist and reactionary agenda.

As the protest ended, many of those who attended expressed their commitment to continuing the fight for immigrant rights. The rally at Buckley Space Force Base is proof to lawmakers and the military that the community will not stand by while the government targets immigrants, and that efforts for legalization and justice will continue.

#AuroraCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #SpaceForce #CSO #CSOAU #DAWA

Anaheim, CA – On June 22, over 50 community members and activists gathered at Twila Reid Park for a vigil honoring Palestinian martyrs who have been killed during the ongoing genocide. The vigil was organized by the Palestinian American Women’s Association.

The vigil was one of Orange County’s many actions highlighting Israel’s genocide campaign in Gaza that has killed at least 40,000 people. The vigil started with an all-Palestinian children’s choir that sang Mawtini, the Iraq national anthem. This was followed up with the chants, “We want justice, you say how? End the siege on Gaza now!” and “Genocide Joe, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?”

A member of PAWA SoCal spoke to the displacement and suffering of Palestinians at the hands of Israel, “For decades Palestinian families have faced unimaginable hardships, forced from their homes time and again now at an exponentially higher scale. Death and starvation loom at every corner in Gaza. Israel has pushed 80% of Gaza’s inhabitants into the cruel limbo of displacement, forcing them to become refugees again.”

The vigil continued with speakers demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel. “We must continue to pressure the U.S. government who provides the bombs, munitions, intelligence and precision technologies that subjugate our people and attempt to quell the resistance. Elected officials continue signing off on billions of dollars in weapons reaching the Zionist entity.” said a speaker from Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Irvine.

A Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) member drew the connection between the Israeli Defense Forces and U.S. police department, stating, “We are aware that the anti-defamation league or ADL has trained many law enforcement agencies within southern California including the Los Angeles Police Department, Orange County Sheriff's Department, and Santa Ana Police Department. At CSO OC we are currently working on police accountability and community control of the police in Santa Ana.”

The vigil ended with a closing performance by the Mawtini choir and writing notes on a candlelit altar commemorating the lives of brave Palestinian martyrs. The vigil included members of Students for Justice in Palestine, Black Lives Matter, CSO OC, SAWA SoCal, Memorial for Freedom and Democracy in Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Al-Awada, Palestine Foundation, Arab American Civil Council, and others.

#AnaheimCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #PAWA #CSO #SJP #USPCN

Orange County, CA – On Friday, October 27, over 30 students and community members gathered across two events to listen to Gia Davila of the Tampa 5 on her stop of the Justice for the Tampa 5 speaking tour. The Tampa 5 are a group of students, workers, and community activists who were violently arrested while protesting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ racist attacks on education at the University of South Florida. They are facing up to ten years in prison and are on a speaking tour to call for these unjust charges to be dropped.

Gia Davila, a member of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), gave context to the current political climate in Florida. She spoke on legislation being proposed that attacks LGBTQ, reproductive, immigrant, union and education rights. She described the bill that Tampa Bay SDS were protesting on the day of the arrests, HB 999, “which effectively banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs from universities. It also had nasty rhetoric about tenure for professors, it attacked Black history, it attacked ethnic studies and multicultural groups.”

Davila continued, “Not only are we innocent, we were doing something good. More students should be protesting on campus to retain these programs and expand these programs of diversity on our campuses.”

The prosecution is threatening them with consequences if they talk to the press, but Davila confidently said, “Of course we are not going to listen to them, that is why I am here.”

The events were put on by CSO Orange County and were co-sponsored by the MEChA de UCI chapter and the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department of CSUF.

Sol Márquez, a member of Centro CSO in Boyle Heights, stated, “The Tampa 5 is much more than specifically people in Tampa, it transcends to all of us who are fighting for what is right.”

Michelle Sanchez, co-chair of MEChA at UCI, highlighted the political repression experienced by students at UCI by saying if they had collaborated with the university to put on this panel, they “would have had to strike some things off of the conversation,” otherwise it would not be approved. She encouraged attendees to get organized in order to fight this repression.

Dr. Marlén Ríos-Hernández, a Chicana studies professor, urged people to take action in this time of heightened political repression, stating, “There will be a time where you have to make up your mind about what you want for the liberation of others, for the liberation of your own people, and decide what it will take for you to be unafraid.”

#OrangeCountyCA #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #DeSantis #StudentMovement #SDS #CSO #MECHA

Los Angeles, CA – Facing intense pressure from the community, the Police Commission and Chief Beck fled a June 21 ‘community’ meeting.’ They could not take the heat and left out the back doors.

Chief of LAPD Charlie Beck, Police Commission members Kathleen Kim, Robert Saltzman, Sandra Figueroa-Villa, Steve Soboroff and Matt Johnson, along with over 25 police officers, gathered at Hollenbeck Middle School. The neighborhood of Boyle Heights, home to Hollenbeck Middle School, was the site for the first community meeting of the LAPD Police Commission to hear from the residents.

Black Lives Matter, the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, and Centro CSO met the LAPD meeting with much resistance. Bringing three families of LAPD police killings and shootings, and one victim family of LA Sheriff killings, Centro CSO was able to directly confront Chief Beck and the other LAPD officers present.

The family of a 16-year- old Chicano, Jose “Peruzzi” Mendez, killed Feb. 6 by LAPD; the family of Arturo Y Torrez killed by LAPD April 10; the family of Edwin Rodriguez killed by ELA Sheriffs Feb. 14, and Maria Banda, whose son was shot by LAPD in Boyle Heights and left for dead, only to be currently imprisoned, were all present and spoke out.

In Spanish, Juan Mendez, Peruzzi Mendez’s father, shouted into the mic, “I ask you now, who will bring me back my son? Which of you will bring my family the justice we deserve? Shooting my son in the back until he died, where is his justice? He was only 16 years old!”

“I should not be expected to believe the men who killed my son, Arturo Y Torrez,” shouted Blanca Duran.

At one point an LAPD officer pulled out a hand-held camcorder to record the public to which Mendez’s mother shouted, “Yeah go ahead and record us now, but refuse to record yourselves killing my son!”

Estela Rodriguez took to the mic to express her anger and fervor for justice, “While the LA Sheriffs were the ones responsible for killing my son I ask all of you today, when will we be able to close this file? I want justice! We will not stop until we obtain justice for Edwin Rodriguez!”

Three of the four families were Spanish-speaking only. LAPD speakers exceeded the two-minute comment limit, but whenever a Spanish-speaker would take the mic along with a translator, the buzzer would go off and the cops would insist on the speakers leaving the mic. The public immediately protested, shouting “Four minutes now!” until finally Spanish-speakers were given four minutes, a fairer amount of time to comment.

“One day I will have children while living Boyle Heights,” shouted Sol Marquez of Centro CSO. “I promise you now, Chief Beck and all you LAPD officers present that I will teach my children not to fear you; they will be taught to fight back. We are Boyle Heights, we are Chicanos, and we are fighting back against your crimes against us.”

Black Lives Matter rose in solidarity with the families and held a moment of silence to commemorate the lives taken by LAPD in Boyle Heights, and the greater Los Angeles area. At one point, they projected a video captured earlier that same morning of LAPD using excessive force against a senior citizen Black man who had exceeded his two minutes of public comments.

Longtime Chicano rights activist and member of Centro CSO Carlos Montes shouted, “We unite with Black Lives Matter’s demand to fire Chief Beck. We bring you these families to show you that Boyle Heights will not remain silent at the face of injustice. Justice for Jose Mendez, Justice for Edwin Rodriguez, justice for Arturo Y Torrez, and justice for all victims of police crimes.”

After the meeting, Marquez stated, “Killings of Chicanos is only one form of national oppression against us. Many of us will never be able to afford the luxuries of traveling outside of our neighborhoods, and much less to lobby politicians. We locally can organize ourselves and fight for our own justice, our own liberation, our own equality.”

Centro CSO is gearing up for more local actions and invites you to participate in monthly, meetings the third Wednesday of every month – 6:00 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Library, 2200 E 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033. One may contact them directly at centrocso@gmail.com, http://facebook.com/CentroCSO, http://twitter.com/CentroCSO, http://centrocso.wordpress.com

#LosAngelesCA #ImmigrantRights #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #NYPD #Antifascism #California #LA #CSO