As “Operation Return to Sender” continues to terrorize immigrants across Calif. and the country, the central coast communities of Watsonville, Salinas, Monterey, Hollister, San Benito and Santa Cruz continue to fight against the racist program. The program was launched by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE came into being in March 2003. It was
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According to the DHS website, ICE accomplishes its mission by “targeting Illegal immigrants: the people, money and materials that support terrorism and other criminal activities.” Since its inception ICE has apprehended thousands of people, deported many of them and put the rest in detention centers built by Halliburton near the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Operation Return to Sender,” the ICE program responsible for the most recent anti-immigrant raids got underway May 2006. Its goal is to arrest undocumented immigrants living in locations not directly adjacent to U.S. borders. Thus far, more than 2,600 people have been arrested in program raids. One of the areas hardest hit was Calif.’s central coast, which is home to many undocumented agricultural workers.
Immigrants and their supporters are fighting against this racist program. On Sept. 24, over 200 people gathered in Watsonville for a rally and speak-out against the raids. The gathering was a continuation of the community-based program known as “Operation Postage Paid”—a community strategy to defend against the racist ICE raids.
The rally was organized by the recently formed “Migra Watch Network.” The network includes the Brown Berets, Youth and Student ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), the Santa Cruz Anti-imperialist League, the Resource Center for nonviolence, along with many community members.
People traveled to Watsonville from all over the central coast and beyond, including an ANSWER Coalition contingent from San Francisco, to participate and stand in solidarity with the central coast immigrant communities.
The rally is one example of the growing dissent of central cost residents toward the repressive actions of the state. Other things are happening as well, including marches and educational forums.
On Sept. 29, community organizers and activists came out to celebrate Watsonville’s fifth “La Pena.” La Pena, organized and put on by the Brown Berets, is meant to provide a space for the community.
On Sept. 30, the Migra Watch Network organized an educational forum and community discussion at the Watsonville Cabrillo College extension. Keynote speakers Adisa Banjoko, the African American and Muslim author of Lyrical Sword, as well as Immortal Technique, a politically charged hip-hop artist and revolutionary from Harlem, addressed a crowd of well over 100 people. Participants traveled from as far as south central Los Angeles.
The forum addressed the immigration raids and the root of the “immigration crisis.” Participants began to create a plan of action to deal with the threat of future raids in the central coast. The importance of conducting broad outreach to other oppressed communities in the United States was also stressed.
Click here to find out about the Migra Watch Network.
