Kshama Sawant Responds to AOC: Everything is not “fine” for immigrants and working people.

by Kshama Sawant, Originally Published on X

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says everything was fine until Trump unleashed violent raids.

Certainly, Trump is vicious towards immigrants and all working people.

But AOC's take on this is appalling and dishonest because ICE agents, with the full cooperation of the Democratic Party, were already brutally targeting immigrants.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans give a crap about immigrants and working people. We need to build movements independently of both.

Let's look at how "fine" things were before Trump:

Biden deported four million people, far more than Trump did in his first term.

According to a September 2024 National Immigrant Justice Center report, an estimated 37,000 people were detained each day under Biden, a 140% increase since Trump left office after his first term. And 23 people died in ICE custody under Biden.

Last year alone, Biden approved $3.4 billion for ICE "to jail an average of 41,500 immigrants per day, historically high funding surpassing all four years of the Trump administration."

Most of that money went to private corporations like The GEO Group, which profit off shockingly inhumane detention centers.

Progressive Democrats like AOC have repeatedly failed working people by providing cover for the Democratic Party in carrying out these attacks. We need leaders who are willing to expose the Democratic Party and use their elected office to mobilize working people to fight back.

We need mass strikes and civil disobedience to stop deportations and shut down all detention centers, starting with a Los Angeles area general strike, and we need a new party for working people. Dealing a blow to their profits is the only language the bosses and their political parties understand.