14th June 2025

The Hackney Independent Socialist Group stands in solidarity with migrant communities in greater Los Angeles and across the United States currently facing mass deportations, state-sanctioned violence, and political scapegoating. These inhumane actions violate the universal right to freedom of movement and residence, as enshrined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We are outraged by the brutal, racist, and violent arrests authorised by Donald Trump, which have already torn families apart, left children orphaned, and thrown countless workers—many of them union members—out of jobs. Among those targeted is trade union leader David Huerta, arrested simply for defending migrant workers’ rights.

These inhumane policies mirror the hostile environment against migrants here in the UK. Starmer’s recently announced Immigration White Paper promotes division and boasts pride in deporting over 29,000 migrants, including asylum seekers, choosing to ignore the historic role Britain played, and continues to play, in destabilising the very nations people are now forced to flee.

Across the Atlantic and here at home, migrants are being used as political scapegoats—vilified while their contributions are erased from public discourse.

But the truth is clear. Here are just a few facts:

• In London, a migrant worker contributes £46,000 in GVA annually, with 1.8 million migrant workers adding £83 billion—22% of London’s economy.
• Migrants in the UK (excluding asylum seekers and EU Settlement Scheme applicants) pay visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge that generates £4.1 billion in annual revenue.
• In the United States, undocumented migrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022—$59.4 billion to the federal government and $37.3 billion to state and local governments. Much of this supports public services they’re barred from accessing.

The parallels between the UK and the U.S. are undeniable: longer settlement routes, extortionate visa fees, workplace and home raids, detention, family separation, and political scapegoating. This is not an isolated trend—it is a shared international agenda of criminalisation, profiteering, and division.

Solidarity with the community resistance to raids and widespread peaceful protests taking place across the U.S.—a powerful expression of the public’s rejection of Trump’s inhumane actions and authoritarian government.

From Hackney to Los Angeles, we demand rights, not raids