On June 12th, Alejandro Orellana had his home raided by the FBI and was then arrested. Orellana is a Chicano community organizer, a fierce immigrant rights activist, and trade unionist, and a member of Centro CSO, an affiliate of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. He now faces bogus federal charges including “conspiracy to commit civil disorder” which carries a sentence of up to 5 years in prison. His arrest is a clear and egregious attack on the immigrant rights movement in LA, and its effects will ripple across the country. The Milwaukee Alliance stands firm that Alejandro did nothing wrong, and we demand that these charges be dropped immediately. Protesting is not a crime!
Like thousands of others, Orellana took to the streets to protest the unjust deportations happening in his city. We are now at an all time high for the number of people in detention with arrests at nearly double what they once were. Detainments and deportations have risen by the thousands since the start of Trump’s presidency. Milwaukee has been no different. ICE has done nothing but tear apart and displace families. One by one they are detaining and deporting members of our communities, attempting to scare and intimidate us. From demanding that a teacher self-deport to arresting a dad while dropping off his kids at school, ICE knows exactly how and who to target to instill the most fear. Regardless, this will not stop our communities from fighting back!
Alejandro Orellana is just one of many immigrant rights activists who have and will go through this, but we will stand by every single one until we get the justice they deserve. We demand that US Attorney Bilal Essayli drop the charges against Alejandro Orellana. Protesting is not a crime! ICE out of our communities!