Working people across Los Angeles and nearby areas are standing up against the ICE raids. Every week, new acts of courage and solidarity are taking shape.

Teachers have stepped up in a big way. In many neighborhoods, they’ve organized community patrols around schools to make sure students and parents feel safe — especially on the first day of school. It’s heartbreaking when a child asks their teacher if they can live with them in case their parents are taken away. To help ease that fear, teachers wore red shirts and held signs welcoming students back, showing families that they’re not alone.

Meanwhile, actor and activist Jane Fonda, along with over a thousand people from the entertainment industry, has brought back the Committee for the First Amendment, which her father, Henry Fonda, helped found during the McCarthy era. Just like back then, the goal is to defend the right to free speech.

In a statement signed by Jane Fonda, Spike Lee, Billie Eilish, and Pedro Pascal, they said:

“The federal government is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry.”

In an interview with Democracy Now, Jane Fonda said free speech is essential for storytellers — and that people must come together, peacefully and in great numbers, to stop this attack. She pointed out that when 1.7 million people canceled their Disney subscriptions in protest of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, it forced the companies to back down and bring him back. “That’s called non-cooperation,” she said. “And when it hits them in their pocketbook, that’s when it matters to them.”

On September 19, Reverend William Barber II spoke at the McCarty Memorial Christian Church in Los Angeles. He reminded the crowd how important it was that cameras captured Bloody Sunday during the civil rights movement — because without that, the world wouldn’t have seen the truth. He said that today we have to expose the same kind of abuse of power happening in our country. He called on all clergy members to join in and speak out against the injustice being waged on working people.

With his group, Repairers of the Breach, and in partnership with the Save America Movement, Barber launched “Liberty Vans.” These vans are staffed with lawyers, clergy, and trained community members who document ICE activity and provide legal and moral support to families under attack.

Just this past weekend, thousands of people came together for a march and rally organized by Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, and many community groups and local lawmakers. Marchers went from the 6th Street Bridge — which connects East LA’s Latino community to downtown — to Little Tokyo. There, they were welcomed by Emy Oba of Nikkei Progressives Organization, whose members shared stories of how their own families were sent to internment camps during World War II. They expressed full solidarity with today’s immigrants and pledged to keep fighting for justice.

Across Los Angeles and the nation, more and more people are joining this growing movement — to defend immigrants, protect democracy, and stop fascism from taking hold.

When we unite and fight back together, we can and will win.

Image: “The streets of Los Angeles echoed with footsteps of hope and voices of resistance” by CHIRLA (Instagram)