Welcome to Dispatch #14! This issue we are discussing recent events surrounding the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil and what it reveals about all of our struggles globally, past efforts to fight for immigrant rights, a handy new philosophical concept - and more. As always, lots to unpack so let’s dive in!
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Easy Actions to Take
📣 Boycott Alert Reminder!
- The BDS Movement has announced their support of the organic boycott of Coca-Cola.
- During Ramadan, the BDS Movement has called for the boycott of Israeli food products, especially dates. Download & Use the Boycat app to easily avoid Israeli products!
- StrikeForAll is continuing their boycott of Target!
Why: Mahmoud’s Khalil’s arrest is a test for the rest of us on what we will allow as citizens. Target political arrests and deportations have no place in a country with supposed “free speech.” Apply pressure onto your representatives to stand up for the first Amendment! Bonus points if you can call your rep with 5calls here. Organized by Deportation Defense
⏱~3min | Send a letter to New York Times to protest their undermining of UN findings and misleading readers
Why: The UN recently released a damning report about the systemic sexual abuse and gender violence Israel continues to inflict upon Palestinians across the Occupied Territories. Western media, in general, has downplayed the report or haven’t shared the story at all, with New York Times being one of the worst offenders. More Info here by Newscord. Organized by Unmute Humanity and Accountable Media
⏱~10min | (US Only) Pressure your Representatives during March Recess to Stand Up for Our Rights (Action Toolkit)
Why: Members of the House of Representatives AND the Senate will be back on your home turf beginning Saturday, March 15 through Sunday, March 23. Reps will be traveling to their home state which is the best time to apply on-the-ground pressure. Bonus Points: if your Rep voted for Trump's budget bill, call and yell at them! Organized by Indivisible
Little (Movement) Wins
- Retirees and soccer fans clash with police in Argentina during ongoing anti-austerity protests
- Thousands of students march to Belgrade for a major rally to challenge President Alexander Vucic’s government
- Former Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte appears at International Criminal Court in The Hague for his deadly “war on drugs.”
The Trail of Dreams
Revealing History
In 2010, four immigrant student leaders in the US (Carlos Roa, Felipe Matos, Juan Rodriguez, and Gaby Pacheco) embarked on a 1,500 mile (2,414 km) walk from Miami, Florida to Washington D.C. Their goal was to counteract anti-immigrant narratives in the media and push for the passage of the DREAM Act, a law that would give a pathway to citizenship for undocumented students brought to the US as minors. They had four demands:
- Pressure then-President Obama, through an executive action, to stop the detentions and deportations of students for two years and halt removal proceedings for people with immediate family members who are US citizens.
- Pass the DREAM Act (“Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors”) to allow access to higher education.
- Protect immigrant workers’ rights
- Push for the implementation of just and humane immigration reform.
From January 1 to May 1, they walked through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, finally arriving in Washington, D.C. Along the way they encountered resistance, like run ins with the Ku Klux Klan or threats of deportation. However they also fostered new connections, built coalition wherever they went, and humanized the conversation around immigration.
In the end, the DREAM Act fell 5 votes short of passing into law. While the fight for humane immigration policy continues, the Trail of Dreams is a reminder that the impacts of our actions can extend far beyond what happens on Capitol Hill. The action marked a major shift in the national conversation around immigration & inspired youth across the country to organize en masse, applying massive amounts of pressure onto representatives across the country on a scale previously unseen. Immigrant youth organized “coming-out” actions declaring their undocumented status in Illinois, sit-ins in Arizona, and similar solidarity walks in New York (and more). The struggles that we engage in are long, often without clear ends in sight and with many small victories along the way before the big one. The Trail of Dreams is a reminder that, with a bit of creativity and determination, our actions can have ripple effects far beyond what we can see.
The People's Dictionary: The Paradox of Tolerance
The Paradox of Tolerance is a philosophical concept first coined by Karl Popper which states that if a society tolerates fundamentally intolerant ideas (eg. racism, bigotry, homophobia, etc), it risks the rest of society becoming more intolerant as a whole; thereby negating the idea of a tolerant open society.
Therefore, in Karl Popper’s words:
We should…claim, in the name of tolerance, the right to not tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.
What Mahmoud Khalil Reveals
About All Struggles
Connecting the Dots
On March 8th, 2025 in the middle of the night, a Columbia University grad student and activist, Mahmoud Khalil, was arrested by two plainclothes Department of Homeland Security officers from his apartment in NYC. The US government revoked his visa, his green-card, and shipped him out-of-state to Louisiana, a state whose ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) detention centers are infamous for disappearing immigrants.
To be clear, what happened to Mahmoud is a political disappearance. The White House has since confirmed that Mahmoud committed no crime and is being targeted for his political views. Columbia University, at the behest of the US government, facilitated Mahmoud’s arrest (and now a 2nd student, Ranjani Srinivasan). A Columbia dean has warned foreign students that “no one can protect you.” These are shocking scenes to many Americans (for good reason) but something all too familiar in other parts of the world.
“Disappearing” someone – that is, taking someone away without telling their friends or family what happened to them or where they are – is a hallmark technique of authoritarian regimes around the world. It was first pioneered in Indonesia in 1965 during an extremely violent purge of Communists from society, and has been repeated constantly throughout the rest of the Global South. Since then, activists everywhere are at risk of “enforced disappearances” because of their political views. This Amnesty International report about disappearances in South Asian countries document thousands of cases in recent years, and similar stories can be found on every continent wherever there are journalists, activists, and organizers challenging the system. This is often done under the guise of anti-Communism, anti-Terrorism, or national security (we’re seeing similar reasoning for Mahmoud’s case) and it’s a terrifyingly effective technique. Family members often don’t know if their loved one is alive or dead, and are afraid to speak out in case their advocacy causes the latter. Even if a disappearance doesn’t result in death, the emotional, social, and financial trauma is enough to keep many quiet.
The bigger picture
The thing is - immigrants are often the early warning sign for the rest of us. When there is increased repression of immigrants, further repression of citizens almost surely follows soon after. As US House Rep Ocasio-Cortez and others have pointed out, if they will come for green-card holders, they will come for citizens next. If Americans want a preview of that, we just need to look at history - either the United States’ own or the dozens of countries with authoritarian regimes the US supported.
While an undeniably scary moment, it also highlights how many popular struggles are interconnected.
- Trump’s right-wing government – that is now working to limit the freedom of women & deny the existence of trans people – weaponizes fear towards immigrants to fuel their rise to power.
- The systems that have been constructed to oppress immigrants in the US (ICE, detention centers, draconian immigration policy, etc) are now being used as a tool of political oppression.
- When an immigrant is arrested, they are sent to detention centers owned and operated by private prison companies.
- Private prison companies (and ICE, DHS, and police for that matter) are often trained by Israel (eg. Project GILEE, Georgia’s police exchange program with Israel) and use Israeli spyware technology (ex: Pegasus, Paragon, Cellebrite).
- Israel has received more foreign aid from the US than any other country since WWII (>$300 Billion), becoming the primary financial backer in their ongoing genocide against Palestinians. Each US-made bomb dropped in Palestine (or anywhere for that matter) brings us closer to global climate catastrophe, which in turn fuels more oppression as nations deal with disaster impacts.
This isn’t isolated to only the US. Countries all across Europe are also seeing similar trends of right-wing rises to power, and a similar demonization of immigrants with new draconian immigration policies that critics have described as cruel and unrealistic. Many Global Majority countries, like Argentina and Honduras, are also struggling against the forces of neocolonialism and imperialism, which are rooted in the West.
Whether it’s the movement for Immigrant Rights, Abolition, Free Palestine, Climate Change, Anti-Colonialism, Anti-War, LGBTQ+, or Women’s Rights - these struggles are abundantly connected. In fact, all our movements are in fact one movement: the People’s movement. The sooner we can understand how critical these connections are, and start moving forward as one, the better off we’ll be.
So what now?
For now, the best way to combat this repression is staying loud and protecting each other, especially through grassroots organizing. We must be prepared to take direct action locally to challenge government deportation campaigns and other forms of repression. This means organizing and educating ourselves and neighbors on how to protect our immigrant neighbors, building local networks of mutual aid and solidarity, and (in the US particularly) enacting comprehensive and robust sanctuary-city policies that we, as a community, work to uphold. Forging international bonds is also indispensable but that, of course, takes time.
Whether you are a US citizen or not, we just updated our ICE Defense Masterlist with critical information. Help us share widely so more of us are prepared.
Elisa has also just released a detailed guide aptly named, “Blueprints for Revolution” to help us better understand how to best build our movement, packed with resources to make it easier to take action.
Keep scrolling below for more resources on how we can defend and protect each other.
As the government begins to crack down on dissidents, the greatest crimes will happen in the dark. It’ll be up to the rest of us to keep the lights on.
📗 Learn More
- Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our Economy
by the US White House - (4-min Video) America's Secret Weapon
by Dr. Michio Kaku
Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they're stones that don't matter. As long as you're breathing, it's never too late to do some good.
Artists Confronting Inequalities
Jacks & Yajaira Peña are siblings and Mexican immigrants based in Los Angeles, CA, USA using their creative skills to cultivate a community that uplifts marginalized voices through their small brand, Barrio Drive.
Since 2017, they’ve shared artwork, products, stories, and resources that celebrate and empower immigrant youths & the Latiné queer community to take up space and push for change, while actively giving back to them too. Barrio Drive has created many collections to fund raise for their DACA Fund, which helps recipients cover their application fees ($500-630 USD per application). Through fashion, art, storytelling, and community-focused entrepreneurship, Jacks & Yajaira are an inspiration and example of how we can use our creative skills to uplift our people.
Visit Barrio Drive’s Website | Follow Barrio Drive on Instagram
Resources & Tools
Please share these links with anyone that might find them helpful:
- Mass Deportation & ICE Defense Masterlist | We recently did a big update to this list, so check it out and help share widely if you're US-based!
- Blueprints for Revolution | A comprehensive practical guide to help you learn how to start getting revolutionary, wherever you are in the world.
- Methods to Winning Over Opponents | 2 tried & true strategies to help you change more hearts and minds.
- Tactics & Techniques for Countering Police Assaults on Indigenous Communities | A downloadable PDF on how to best protect our Indigenous communities from the police compiled by Warrior Publications
- Open Secrets: Track US Election Spending | An online tool to find what groups are funding US Representatives.
- Protest Safety Guide | A protest safety guide that includes downloadable resources to help you get prepared before, during and after a protest.
- Funding for Grassroots Groups | Recommendations by grassroots organizations and foundations on how to maximize your opportunities to get more funding.
For more resources, View the Full Directory.
Stay tuned for the next issue where we'll be talking about the interplay between art, organizing, and activism! We're excited to get into it because there are actually quite a few readers that are artists (though all of us are creative in our own ways).
If you're new here, don't forget to sign up to get the next Dispatch emailed to you. Till then, take care, stay safe, and stay strong. Life is rough now for many, but remember we always have each other.
In Solidarity,
Elisa & Ray
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About Little Wins
Little Wins is a Los Angeles-based creative studio using the power of visual design & storytelling to raise our collective consciousness, connect communities across cultures and classes, and motivate others to improve our world. We do this because we want to see a more engaged, liberated, and regenerative world where all people have access to the knowledge and tools needed to thrive.
