Feds Criminalize Aiding #Protests Against #ICE

The #Trump administration is targeting nonviolent acts like identifying masked agents and handing out #PPE in support of LA’s #AntiICE movement.

Akela Lacy
July 23 2025

Excerpt: " 'Roving patrols' operating without reasonable suspicion and denying access to #lawyers violated the Fourth and the Fifth Amendments, the judge wrote. 'What the federal government would have this Court believe — in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case — is that none of this is actually happening.'

"Now, those accused of helping the anti-ICE movement are facing prosecution or investigation. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted a man after he handed out #FaceShields to people protesting ICE in Los Angeles two days after President Donald Trump deployed the #NationalGuard.

"#AlejandroOrellana, 29, pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to aid and abet civil disorders. According to a grand jury indictment, the face shields were 'advertised as designed to protect from chemical splashes and flying debris.'

" 'Alejandro Orellana’s arrest for distributing supplies is an outrageous violation of #CivilRights and should be a wakeup call to people everywhere,' said California attorney Thomas Harvey.

" 'This appears to be a targeted, political attack on resistance to a military incursion on our communities,' Harvey said. 'Distributing supplies to protesters is not a crime. It’s a critical role to help keep people safe — especially in the face of some of the most violent police repression I’ve seen since the #Ferguson uprising.' "

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/23/feds-criminalize-protests-masked-ice/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/sQii5

#ACAB #CriminalizingProtest #CriminalizingDissent #CivilRightsViolations #Authoritarianism #USPol #WeKeepOurselvesSafe #WeKeepEachOtherSafe

Pre-trial hearing, August 7: National Day of Protest to Drop the Charges on Alejandro Orellana! Protesting ICE is not a crime!

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is calling on organizations across the US to join a National Day of Action on August 7 and to demand that the charges on Alejandro Orellana be dropped. There is no crime in protesting ICE and deportations, protecting protesters, and speaking out against Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/pre-trial-hearing-august-7-national-day-of-protest-to-drop-the-charges-on

Denver press conference condemning FBI attacks on anti-ICE protesters

Denver, CO – On the evening of June 27, Aurora Unidos CSO, Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC), and rank-and-file Teamsters gathered outside the Byron Rogers Federal Building to demand that charges be dropped on Los Aneles immigrant rights activist Alejandro Orellana.

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/denver-press-conference-condemning-fbi-attacks-on-anti-ice-protesters

Chicago demands prosecutor Essayli drop the charges on Alejandro Orellana

Chicago, IL – On Friday, June 27, allies of the Los Angeles group Centro CSO gathered at noon in downtown Chicago for a press conference and rally in support of CSO immigrant rights activists Alejandro Orellana and Verita Topete. Orellana and Topete have been targeted by the FBI in the weeks since the Los Angeles protests against ICE raids.

“We’re here to demand that the federal charges against Alejandro Orellana be dropped,” Joe Iosbaker of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, said. “Raids and federal grand juries are attacks on progressive movements, on our freedom to speak, to assemble, and to tell the government that their actions and their policies are wrong.”

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/chicago-demands-prosecutor-essayli-drop-the-charges-on-alejandro-orellana

Tampa condemns FBI repression of immigrant rights activists in LA

Tampa, FL – On a loud and busy intersection in front of Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse on Friday morning, June 27, members of three groups – Tampa Immigrants Rights Committee, Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society – gathered to rally in solidarity with two Los Angeles activists targeted by the FBI for their political beliefs and for standing with their communities. They read statements in in solidarity with Alejandro Orellana and Verita Topete.

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/tampa-condemns-fbi-repression-of-immigrant-rights-activists-in-la

Minneapolis protest demands: “Drop the charges against Alejandro Orellana and Isavela Lopez!”

Minneapolis, MN – Immigrant rights protesters gathered at Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis June 27. This action was part of a National Day of Action called by the Legalization for All Network and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/minneapolis-protest-demands-drop-the-charges-against-alejandro-orellana-and

Jacksonville defends immigrant rights activist facing FBI repression

Jacksonville, FL – Chants of “Drop the charges!” echoed outside the federal courthouse Thursday, June 27, as dozens of protesters stood in solidarity with Alejandro Orellana, a Los Angeles immigrant rights organizer facing politically-motivated federal charges. The powerful demonstration coincided with Orellana's first scheduled court hearing since his June 12 arrest by FBI agents targeting his activism against ICE raids.

“Drop the charges on Alejandro. Stop the FBI witch hunt,” declared one speaker at the rally. “We just wanna be out here fighting for the same things that other people are fighting for.”

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/jacksonville-defends-immigrant-rights-activist-facing-fbi-repression

Legalization for All (L4A) Network: June 27 National Call-In Day to “Drop the Charges against Alejandro Orellana!”

Fight Back New Service is circulating the following statement from the Legalization for All (L4A) Network.

The Legalization for All (L4A) Network is calling on all affiliated immigrant rights organizations and supporters to mobilize an action in support of Alejandro Orellana on June 27th, or participate in a national call-in day against U.S. Attorney Bilal “Bill” Essayli.

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/legalization-for-all-l4a-network-june-27-national-call-in-day-to-drop-the

Activista de derechos inmigrantes Alejandro Orellana liberado de custodia federal

Los Angeles, CA – El viernes, 13 de junio, Alejandro Orellana, un activista de derechos inmigrantes quien fue arrestado por la FBI, fue liberado de custodia federal.

La mañana anterior la FBI, con el apoyo de la guardia nacional y el departamento de sherifes de Los Ángeles, invadieron el hogar de Orellana en el Este de Los Ángeles y arrestaron a Alejandro, un por vida miembro de Centro CSO, con cargos de “conspiración de cometer desorden criminal.”

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/activista-de-derechos-inmigrantes-alejandro-orellana-liberado-de-custodia

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression demands dropping charges against Alejandro Orellana

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repression-demands-dropping