America’s largest socialist organisation, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has taken a lead in organising radical action in solidarity with migrants and in opposition to the policies of the Trump administration, calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
DSA activists hounded Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen out of a Mexican restaurant with chants of “if kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace”, and its local branches have been organising and supporting “abolish ICE” protests throughout the country. The Metro DC DSA branch organised a protest outside the home of former ICE director Tom Homan, and DSA groups have led protests in Hawaii, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.
Many locally-produced DSA materials display an admirable, if somewhat disconnected, radicalism, combining demands to abolish ICE with the slogan “abolish profit”.
Situating its calls for the abolition of ICE within its wider programme, including its campaigns for universal healthcare, can contribute to the building of a movement that is not merely negatively anti-Trump but a positive movement for pro-working-class policies.
