The last few weeks have been harrowing for immigrants in the US. People in our community and across the country are worried about being detained or deported as Donald Trump tries to make good on his campaign promise of “mass deportations.” Although today a federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. 

Host Ali Muldrow is joined by two guests today to talk about the threats that immigrants face right now and how people are organizing in opposition to ICE raids and more. Melissa Sanchez has been reporting on Nicaraguan communities in Wisconsin for ProPublica. She says the people she works with are scared and are staying home but that local organizing can make a difference for immigrants. 

Our second guest, Karma Chavez, says that the point of all the “shock and awe” we’re seeing is to throw the population into a state of dismay and inaction. She connects the barrage of issues from cutting DEI initiatives, to Gaza, and reproductive rights with immigration policies and says that we must stay focused and prioritize our local impact. 

Karma Chavez is a longtime friend of WORT and a Professor and Chair of Mexican American and Latino/a Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She studies social movement building, activist rhetoric, and coalitional politics. 

Melissa Sanchez is an investigative reporter at ProPublica. She writes about immigrants and labor and is based out of Chicago. She spent much of the past two years reporting on labor conditions for immigrant workers on Wisconsin dairy farms.

Featured image of a 2017 “Day Without Immigrants” demonstration in Washington, DC via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

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