Democrats, Stand Up!

“I’m trying to figure out what leverage we actually have,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D–N.Y.) said at a press briefing in February. “What leverage do we have? Republicans have repeatedly lectured America—they control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It’s their government.”

Axios.com reported on Feb. 11 that members of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee complained that activist groups such as MoveOn and Indivisible have facilitated thousands of phone calls to Congress members’ offices and that lawmakers are angry about the calls. Jeffries is reported to have said he is “very frustrated” with the groups.

The feeling is mutual among Democrats and everyone who opposes authoritarianism and Trump. Voters are frustrated by the lack of leadership and action from the party.

The frustration of grassroots Democrats, progressives and independents is pervasive throughout America. At the “Not My Presidents Day” protest at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 17 in Washington, D.C., thousands turned out to protest what the organizers called “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.”

Thousands demonstrated against Trump across the United States on Feb. 17 to protest policies including the administration’s efforts to make drastic cuts to government agencies and deport undocumented immigrants. The Presidents’ Day demonstrations were organized by the 50501 Movement, a grassroots effort that called for 50 protests in 50 states as part of one movement.

Also on Presidents’ Day, there was a local protest at Fresno City Hall. Protest organizers said the rally was against the “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.” Hundreds demonstrated carrying signs with various messages: “President, not a King,” “Nobody Elected Musk,” “I Love the Constitution” and “No Human Is Illegal.” They marched through downtown Fresno in a vocal act of resistance.

 “This is a response to what we are seeing federally, the sidestepping of our Constitution [and of] people’s rights,” said Jennifer Cruz, who was a candidate for Fresno County Board of Supervisors District 5 last year, speaking at the rally. “Our local leaders need to get in the game and fight back.”

The Sad Reality of Hate

On March 1, a vigil at Eaton Plaza in downtown Fresno commemorated and honored the life of Jocelyn Rojo Carranza of Gainesville, Texas. The 11-year-old committed suicide on Feb. 8 after repeatedly being bullied in school by classmates over her immigration status.

Her mother, Marbelle Carranza, told CBS News Texas that her daughter had spoken with school counselors about the bullying. CNN reported on Feb. 27 that the Gainesville Independent School District had confirmed that Jocelyn reported the abuse to the school principal, including comments from a student on her bus about deportation and ICE.

The vigil also commemorated the lives of several other children who lost their lives to hate including six-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Shaheen, who was fatally stabbed by his landlord on his front porch on Oct. 14, 2023. Authorities and community leaders said the attack was motivated by hate and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The attacker, 73-year-old Gregory Czuba, was found guilty of murder and of committing a hate crime by a jury on Feb. 28, 2025, after deliberating for only 90 minutes.

Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin was also honored and commemorated. She died in ICE custody from an untreated bacterial infection in December 2018 after traveling more than 2,000 miles with her father from Guatemala. She died after being in custody for two days and would have likely survived with immediate hospitalization. Sadly, there are many other documented cases of child deaths while in ICE custody.

About 30 people were at the vigil, and several speakers addressed the crowd. There was a sad silence as Lori Garcia, a retired teacher and member of Raza Against War, spoke: “From California to Texas, from Mexico to the Gaza Strip, the children are ours and we vow to protect them.

“It’s too late for us to help Jocelyn, but we can honor her memory by continuing to fight against hate and work for a future across the globe. A future where every child is safe, valued and free from violence in all of its forms. It starts right here in our own community.”

Jaki Ramirez, a young activist from Visalia, said, “It’s time for us to hold ourselves accountable. Let’s not say it’s too political, let’s not say we don’t want to make people uncomfortable. Jocelyn was uncomfortable and so are many other children who are getting tortured and bullied. Politics is no longer a hobby, especially for people of color.

“Jocelyn’s death shows that these [immigration] topics are not just conversation, they’re not just debates. It affects us, it affects our children. They have been hurting Brown and Indigenous children for generations.

“We come from a society of corruption and hatred. If we want to learn from that, we have to talk about it. It’s time for us to be uncomfortable. It’s time to think about how much effort that we, as a community, make, by going to our council members, by going to the school boards and asking things like what’s going on with the bullying program. It’s time to act.”

Defending Immigrants

On March 5, community members and immigrant rights defenders gathered in front of the U.S. Federal Building in downtown Fresno to raise objections to Trump’s harsh immigration policies and Democratic Party complicity in the scapegoating and demonizing of undocumented immigrants.

The event was organized by the Fresno Immigrant Rights Coalition. Stan Santos, of the coalition, referring to the recently passed Laken Riley Act, said that the law “will cause immigrants who are very much good immigrants, good workers, people that are contributing to the community, they will be caught in the net and they could be deported.”

The Laken Riley Act, recently passed by Congress with the support of a few Democrats, including Central Valley Reps. Jim Costa (D–Fresno), Adam Gray (D–Merced) and Josh Harder (D–Tracy), is now law. It denies undocumented immigrants due process and adjudication of guilt under the courts and immigration authorities.

Immigrants accused of nonviolent crimes, such as shoplifting, can be held indefinitely without the right to bail or trial. The law is named after a nursing student who was murdered on Feb. 22, 2024, by an undocumented immigrant in Georgia. The tragic murder has been used by Donald Trump to whip up hysteria and hate. It must be noted that immigrants commit far fewer violent crimes than U.S. citizens.

Eliseo Gamino, president of the Central Valley Leadership Round Table, says that “our core system has laws. The Laken Riley Act does away with your day in court and [the opportunity to] prove you are innocent. In every ethnic group there’s some bad apples, but you take one case and you’re going to judge a whole ethnic group. That’s not the American way if you ask me.”

Another issue addressed at the press conference was Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig and Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni backing the revision of SB 54, a state law passed in 2017 that limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies.

Supporters say it allows local law enforcement to focus on public safety and building community trust rather than focusing on deportation efforts. Magsig and Zanoni seek to overturn the provisions of SB 54. If overturned, crime could increase and community members would be more fearful of deportations.

“I am part of the Raza Against War committee and speak on the following [in an] attempt to stop the war against immigrants,” said Gloria Hernandez, a Fresno resident and longtime civil rights advocate. “As we inch closer to World War III, let us look back at how the world came together after World War II and attempted to stop atrocious and barbaric acts that outraged the conscience of mankind from occurring again.

“The power of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights was to inspire us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity. Did you all know that in other parts of the world children are taught their human rights in addition to the civil rights of their motherland?

“Here in the U.S., it’s clear that many are not even taught their own civil rights let alone how we as a people have chosen to be governed not ruled by a dictator. We have no king. Everyday, I am astonished at how many people continue to live in a box even as we have access at our fingertips to learn how other nations live in peace.

“Trump and his goons have not only stepped on the Constitution as it pertains to the civil rights of immigrants but have violated their human rights as well.

“Most of his executive orders will eventually be overturned by courts if the judicial system continues to and we continue to exist as a democracy. But while the courts fight it out, many of his executive orders violate the human rights of people (see sidebar).

“Deportation is a very heavy penalty applied under the Laken Riley Act. Trump and his goons have proven over and over again that the law doesn’t pertain to them.

“Border Patrol has been breaking the law by not producing warrants and breaking into people’s cars and homes in pursuit of undocumented people and hurting innocent people because they are supposedly collateral damage, thus violating many sections of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights.”

As more people in Fresno and the United States get involved, many are realizing that no one can save us but ourselves. Keep organizing, keep mobilizing, keep the pressure on your members of Congress. Stop the hate, be the love.