WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the raids expected in immigrant communities across the countries with the second Trump presidency, CASA, the national powerbuilding organization serving working-class Black, Latino, African-descendant, Indigenous, and immigrants, released the following statement from Gustavo Torres, CASA’s executive director.
“Our families, our neighbors, and our friends are facing the threat of immigration raids that tear loved ones apart and create fear in the places we call home. In the place that millions have called home for decades. Protecting our CASA membership and our community is our first priority – and not just CASA’s. The groundswell of support that’s arisen from our friends and partners and allies warms the heart: we have constructed an immigrant defense coalition of faith communities, businesses, community organizations, donors, elected officials, educators, attorneys, and other people of good – all of whom stand ready to act, alongside us. We are accompanied in advocacy by so many – a truly beautiful, powerful thing.
“We will not stand by while families are separated and lives are disrupted. We will leverage every available judicial, administrative, organizing, and legislative tool to defend the protections that exist at the national level, and where those protections are threatened, we will fight back at the state and local levels. Our organization has been here before. We have built rapid response networks under multiple administrations, and we are prepared to meet this moment.
“We organize so we’re proactive. That’s why CASA has already trained thousands in Know Your Rights sessions, family preparedness planning, and bystander intervention training sessions. CASA hosted resistance vigils to kick off Know Your Rights sessions that very Saturday after Election Day, organizing in all four CASA states, MD, VA, PA, and GA. Because knowledge is power, and we will use that power to fight back.
“We continue to push for state and local protections – blocking ICE access to DMV databases, restricting facial recognition surveillance, and shutting down immigrant detention centers. We’ve secured countless state and local protections, and we will not stop until our communities are safe.
“We’re going to turn this moment into a movement – to advocate for substantial change that will mark the face of history and outlast the blink of an eye that is a presidential term.”