The weekly newsletter of the Mexico Solidarity Project

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April 16, 2025

Rounding Up America: Ethnic Cleansing

Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

My Chinese mother was a student when the Japanese invaded China in 1937, and students, always among the most politically active, were targets. In 1939, she came to the US with a university enrollment permit.

December 7, 1941. She was studying in the library when a group of agitated people burst through and stopped at her table. Someone yelled, “Are you Japanese?” Thank goodness she wasn’t. But what if she was? And what if they hadn’t asked?

Two months later, with no notice, the government began rounding up the Japanese, two-thirds of them US citizens, and sent them off to barren camps. Over 1800 died.

In 2017, Trump attempted to stop migration from majority Muslim countries and to force Muslims to register with the National Security Agency — or be deported. This proposal enraged Japanese Americans. Their internment had taught them that discriminatory policies like these could lead to terrible consequences for innocent people. But as of April 11, with the Alien Registration Act, all non-citizens must register and carry these documents on their persons or face arrest. 

Trump is on a high-speed ethnic and political cleansing campaign. One person caught in this sweep is Lelo Juarez. We hear his story from Edgar Franks, interviewed by Truthout. Lelo has been a strong advocate for immigrant farmworkers, and has organized against the temporary farmwork program Trump favors. It’s likely he was specifically singled out.

It’s not only Mexicans or Japanese or Muslims who are not safe this time. Immigration agents have been throwing our foreign students out of the country with no legal reason — terrifying all of them, as my mother was terrified once. People of any race defending Palestine are targets. With the drumbeat of war against China, I don’t feel safe.

Who’s left? Just a few white guys in red caps. To quote Trump, “Sad.”

Lelo Detained: ICE Targets Labor

Derek Seidman: What’s important to know about Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez?

Edgar Franks: The most important thing is how much he cares about farmworker issues and how much he has advocated for farmworkers, especially the Indigenous Mixteco farmworker community that he’s from. One reason he organizes is because there are so few organizers in the state that speak to the issues of Indigenous Mexicans from his community. He’s very committed to his community and all the issues that affect farmworkers and immigrants. He’s always available, anytime people call him, because he believes so much in the cause.

Alfredo was key to bridging that communication gap because he spoke English, Spanish and Mixteco. With him, we were able to really get information from the workers about what they wanted and help them organize.

He also helped us lobby for the overtime rules for farmworkers and the rules on climate around heat and smoke. All our recommendations came straight from workers that Alfredo spoke with. He was always talking to workers. He’s also been calling attention to how exploitative the H-2A guest worker program is and how growers use the H-2A program as a tool to take power away from farmworkers. He’s also been lobbying on issues like housing and rent stabilization.

He’s a member of our union who’s been around since the beginning. He’s sort of like a shop steward. Everything that the union has done has Alfredo’s fingerprints all over it.

How do you understand his detention?

We believe his detention is politically motivated because of his organizing in the farmworker and immigrant community. We believe he was targeted. The way that ICE detained him was meant to intimidate. They hardly gave him any chance to defend himself or explain. He wasn’t resisting, and he just asked to see the warrant. They asked to see his ID, and right when he was reaching for it, they broke his car window. The ICE agents escalated really fast. From what we heard, it was less than a minute from the time he was pulled over to him being in handcuffs.

From the beginning, we thought Project 2025 and its plan for mass deportations was meant to send a chill among farmworker organizations that had been gaining momentum. It was meant to silence the organizing, deport as many people as possible, and to bring in a captive workforce through the H-2A program.

We think that might be the ultimate plan: to get rid of all the immigrant workers who are organizing and fighting back for better conditions, and to bring in a workforce that’s under the complete control of their employer with basically no rights. It’ll make it even harder to organize with farmworkers if more H-2A workers come. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it’ll be more difficult. All the gains that have been made in the last couple of years for farmworkers are at risk.

There’s been an outpouring of support since his arrest!

It’s been great to see the huge support for Alfredo. It speaks to how much of an impact he’s had in the state and all over the nation. It’s been really nice to see the solidarity from people that probably never even met him or knew anything about the farmworker struggle, but who know an injustice has happened.

March 27 protest, Tacoma ICE Detention Center:

Photo: Santiago Ochoa/Cascadia Daily News

There was a rally on March 27 organized by the Washington State Labor Council, which represents all the unions in Washington. They showed up at the detention center calling for Alfredo and another union member, Lewelyn Dixon, to be freed. For us as a union, it’s most important to see our labor family stepping up.

During the presidential campaign we saw how workers and unions were being used by Trump, but now all of our labor folks are seeing what’s really happening here, which is that Trump is using immigrants to attack workers and unions. It’s been great to see labor really stepping up on the side of immigrant workers.

What are some memories of Lelo, and how is he doing in detention?

When we first started organizing in 2013, he was only around 14 years old. A lot of farmworkers didn’t know how to speak English, and so these workers, who were grown adults, would ask Alfredo to present their case. He was just a young teenager, basically a kid, and he was given the responsibility to represent farmworkers at speaking engagements with hundreds of people.

I remember all this because I would have to drive him around since he was too young to drive! So I would take him to talk to churches, or unions, or other groups around the community. I was amazed. I couldn’t speak for two minutes without getting nervous, but here was this 14-year-old who could talk for an hour!

He was also asked to go to the 2022 Labor Notes Conference to present on the work of the union, and I just remember how excited he was that Bernie Sanders was going to be there. He got the opportunity to give Bernie a letter about our campaign to oppose the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. He was so excited about meeting Bernie Sanders.

Supporters at a “Hands Off” rally demanding Alfredo's release. Photo: Community to Community Development

Now?  He’s obviously upset. He misses his family and friends. He’s also been very moved by all the actions that are happening. But when some of his supporters went to go see him last week, you know what his message was? To keep fighting and keep organizing. That gives us strength and confidence to move forward. Lelo wants us to fight, so we’ll fight. If he’s fighting on the inside, we’ll keep fighting for him on the outside.

HOW TO SUPPORT ALFRED “LELO” JUAREZ

HOW TO SUPPORT ALFRED “LELO” JUAREZ

Here are three things you can do in solidarity with Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez:

1. Attend a vigil or action. Find updates on actions here.

2. Make phone calls demanding the release of Alfredo Juarez and other politically targeted detainees.

Washington Attorney General's office: 360-753-6200

Washington State Governor’s office: 360-902-4111

Representative Rick Larson: (425) 252-3188

Senator Patty Murray: (253) 572-3636

Senator Maria Cantwell: (253) 572-2281

A new tool is now live that will help folks make the calls automatically. You can access that here.

3. Donate. Community to Community Development is collecting contributions for Lelo’s legal defense fund. You can donate via their website at this link, or mail a check to:

              Community to Community Development
            PO Box 1646 Bellingham, WA 98227

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For a deeper dive into current news and analysis in English,

check out our media website and the podcast ¡Soberanía! (Sovereignty) with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth. Sin Muros is a weekly program dedicated to analyzing the Mexico-US relationship, reporting news, analysis and research from both sides of the border.

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,
on life and struggles on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Compiled by Jay Watts.

Tim Dickinson, ‘There’s No Second Amendment Right to Sell Guns to the Cartels’ Rolling Stone. A lawyer in Mexico’s Supreme Court case against gunmakers describes the profitable “iron pipeline” that trafficks U.S. guns to drug cartels.

Micaela Varela, Lilia Aguilar, diputada: “Lo que sucedió con Cuauhtémoc Blanco es el resultado de políticos pragmatistas” El País. “Todo el mundo converge en Morena. Se volvió excesivamente pragmático, sobre todo en el liderazgo de Mario Delgado”, señala apenas dos días después de que el pleno de la Cámara de Diputados decidió no avalar el desafuero del diputado Cuauhtémoc Blanco tras la acusación de intento de violación de su hermanastra.

Ellen Mass, Global Leader of the Future: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo of Mexico Massachusetts Peace Action. Under the  banner of Bienestar for all, and with Benito Juarez as liberator, Mexico is returning to its historical will of a people’s democracy to dominate its own resources and strengthen its sovereignty, thus enshrining its dictum, from the bottom up as an actual future for all of North American peace and prosperity.

Laura Sánchez Ley, Rápida, furiosa y juiciosa Gatopardo. La agenda de seguridad en las relaciones México-Estados Unidos siempre ha estado expuesta a los dobles discursos, los intereses inconfesables, el unilateralismo y el chantaje. Sin embargo, la deriva de arbitrariedad a la que asistimos desde la segunda llegada al poder de Donald Trump siembra un escenario imprevisible, en el que se corre el riesgo de vaciar de significado términos como “soberanía”, “derechos humanos” o “diplomacia profesional”.

Joseph Addington, Trump’s Surprising Friendship with Mexico American Conservative. A perhaps too-glowing view of the relationship from Pat Buchanan’s magazine.

“Tiene que haber reglas” Sin Embargo. En medio de la controversia que hay por las caravanas de la salud que encabeza la Senadora chihuahuense, Claudia Sheinbaum cree que "vale la pena poner ciertas reglas dentro del Consejo Nacional de Morena para cualquiera que legítimamente quiera participar en una elección".

Témoris Grecko, Claudia and Lula, CELAC and BRICS... and the OPEC example Mexican Press Agency. Mexico’s active involvement allows CELAC to be much more than a South American bloc weakened by the Trumpism of Argentina and Ecuador. It gives its initiatives strategic depth and volume, as well as a channel for dialogue with North America.

Jared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila, Mineros llaman a reconstruir el tejido social en Cananea La Jornada. Antonio Navarrete, vocero de la sección 65, señaló que desde hace casi dos décadas han tenido que enfrentar condiciones difíciles de desempleo, además de la deserción escolar y pobreza en las comunidades frente a la cerrazón de Germán Larrea, dueño de Grupo México, quien se niega a buscar un arreglo justo.

Mexico Proposes a Latin American Economic Summit to Address the U.S. Trade War Telesur English. “In light of the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Sheinbaum reaffirmed that Mexico is interested in continuing economic integration with the United States.” (Sadly)

Eduardo de la Rosa, Morena plantea elevar indemnizaciones por rescisión de contratos de trabajo El Economista. El legislador plantea elevar de 20 a 90 días de salario la base de cálculo de la indemnización tanto para trabajadores con contratos tanto por tiempo determinado como indefinido.

The Mexico Solidarity Project brings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice. We see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party aim to end generations of corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests. Our Project supports not just Morena, but all Mexicans struggling for basic rights, and opposes US efforts to undermine organizing and Mexico’s national sovereignty.

Editorial committee: Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Agatha Hinman, Victoria Hamlin, Courtney Childs, Pedro Gellert.  To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

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