The Enemy Arrives by Limo, Not by Caravan: Building a Politics of Solidarity Across Borders

Decades of brutal US imperial intervention and corporate globalization have created the conditions that are forcing thousands to migrant and seek refuge within the increasingly militarized borders of the United States. At the same time, for those living within the imperial core, conditions have only gotten worse, with wealth inequality and the cost of living skyrocketing in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fearful of another rebellion, both parties are pushing a politics of “law and order” – from calling for attacks on houseless people to bringing in the military to deal with petty crime on the subway in New York. Meanwhile, the Republican party has also shifted to embracing full on white supremacist conspiracy theories, attacking migrants and asylum seekers while painting the structural realities pushing people to migrate as an “invasion” carried out to “replace” the “real Americans.”

These forces have had a real impact. From mass shootings carried out by far-Right murderers obsessed with conspiracy theories, to the fact that a growing number of Americans now list “immigrants” as the country’s biggest threat. Autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements must work to push back against both elite politicians, corporate media, and State institutions – along with their allies from inside the far-Right, all working to preserve State power and corporate domination. We must fight to build real bonds and projects of mutual aid based in solidarity with those attacked and displaced by the systems of exploitation, while mobilizing against our common enemies.

Elites and Politicians Embrace Far-Right Conspiracy Theories

In 2018, then President Trump falsely claimed that “George Soros” was behind a caravan of refugees which was heading from Honduras to the United States. In reality, Hondurans were fleeing a country which was left in chaos by a US backed military coup in 2009, made possible by graduates from the notorious counter-insurgency training facility, the School of the Americas (now referred to as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), and supported by officials within the Obama Administration, such as then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. But instead of looking at the structural realities which pushed people to flee their homes, Trump of course doubled-down on anti-immigrant hysteria in what became an unsuccessful attempt at securing a second term in the White House. Against the backdrop of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Soros and “ANTIFA” plans to launch an uprising with the aid of drug cartels, Trump called in the army, which shot off tear gas and projectiles at members of the caravan, whose only crime was attempting to cross the border and apply for asylum in a country which had drastically destabilized their own in a wave of repression.

Six years later – as Republicans openly call for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and abolishing the Department of Education – and Trump is back to his old playbook. Outlets like Fox News have also been hard at work, pivoting from concocted tales of “retail crime,” to fever dreams of a “migrant crime crisis” which has no basis in reality. What is different, is that before what were largely fringe anti-Semitic and white supremacist theories floating around the far corners of the Alt-Right, have now become the backbone of the Republican party. “The Great Replacement,” once a conspiracy pushed by only hardline neo-Nazis and white supremacists, is now being touted by everyone from pharma billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, Swason frozen foods heir and Twitter troll Tucker Carlson, to the billionaire backed Turning Point USA. It’s followers claim that a “cabal” of (often Jewish) elites or simply just “the Democrats,” are purposely orchestrating the mass migration of non-white people into the US for the purpose of replacing the “real Americans.”

Towards this end, Trump has even gone so far as to invoked Hitler, claiming that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the nation, while Republicans and MAGA activists have described those seeking asylum as carrying out an “invasion” of “military aged men.” The fact that a large section of the Republican party has embraced white supremacist conspiracy theories, attacks on migrants and refugees, and calls for mass deportations, made evident by groups such as Turning Point USA, itself funded by vast networks of dark money and wealthy donors, shows the degree of institutional backing within elite circles for these fascist policies.

Displacement Caused by Corporate Globalization and US Imperialist Intervention

Despite what neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and Republican bureaucrats would have us believe, those being pushed to seek refuge in the United States are not animated by a shadowy conspiracy, but instead, by real economic policies and decades of imperial US military intervention. These are policies which have enriched corporate elites, the military industrial complex, and allowed politicians to rise to power – all while leading to the deaths of countless thousands and only further entrenching workers on both sides of the border in poverty and precarity.

Those demonized by the fascist Right – workers coming from Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Venezuela – are all countries where the US has has a deep history of military intervention and violent regime change. In the case of Venezuela, US imposed sanctions are also pushing many to seek asylum from a country rocked by economic crisis and rising inflation. Other countries such as Haiti and Afghanistan, have also seen a rise in attempted migration to the US, in response to decades of US imposed instability and crisis.

Since the cold war, the United States has armed, trained, and supported a variety of far-Right regimes, in an ongoing effort to crush indigenous, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial movements. Through counter-insurgency training centers like the School of the Americas, paramilitary groups are trained in destroying grassroots movements and spreading brutal tactics of state repression across Central and South America.

As SOA Watch noted:

The training at the School of the Americas (again, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) is among the root causes of migration that force people to flee their countries in Latin America. SOA/WHINSEC-trained soldiers are the military muscle that keeps in place a system guaranteeing profits for the elites—and exploitation for the poor. Many immigrants to the United States are victims of U.S.-sponsored military training and atrocities in Latin America.

Corporate globalization is also another key factor that is pushing many people across the Global South to migrate and in turn, has also been linked to the increased militarization of the US border. In 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed, which liberalized rules governing corporate capital. While workers were locked inside borders, big business was free move to greener pastures in order to avoid unions, environmental regulations, and paying workers higher wages. With the passing of NAFTA, many campesinos were forced to find work in the United States, which responded by militarizing the border under Operation Gatekeeper.

As Southern Border wrote:

Gatekeeper adopted a strategy of ‘prevention through deterrence,’ which was part of a comprehensive national southwest border strategic plan meant to bring migrant apprehensions under “control.” The strategy included militarizing the Southern Border region by increasing the number of Border Patrol agents deployed on the ground, opening up interior Border Patrol checkpoints, increasing detention bed space, building walls and other infrastructure where there had been none, and by purposefully pushing migrant crossings to dangerous crossing areas, resulting in the death and disappearance of thousands of migrants. Operation Gatekeeper was part of the initial phase of the strategy that began in Imperial Beach, CA, just south of San Diego, and gradually extended its way to the east, separating communities and devastating wildlife across the Southern Border from San Diego, CA to Brownsville, TX.

Since the passing of NAFTA and Operation Gatekeeper in 1993, both corporate globalization and border militarization has only accelerated. These policies have led to both mass inequality and record high deaths of migrants along the US border. These policies have also been a disaster for US workers, as “high-wage positions in manufacturing industries” were moved across the border and “contributed to rising income inequality, suppressed real wages for production workers, weakened workers’ collective bargaining powers and ability to organize unions, and reduced fringe benefits.”

These realities are not lost on billionaires such as Trump and the fascists they amplify, yet these forces do not which to challenge or oppose the capitalist class attacking workers; instead – they want to re-direct our rage, largely of US born white workers, not against those at the top, but instead, against those at the bottom.

As we wrote in 2022:

Like the Mercers before him and now Kanye West, [Trump, Musk, etc] represents a segment of the billionaire class that is willing to align itself with the fascist-Right. This reflects the outright nihilism that this camp sells to its followers. [Trump] isn’t here to shake things up, but to preserve his position at the top.

Building An Anti-Capitalist Politics of Solidarity Across Borders

The increase in migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers into the US is directly caused by US imperialism, political intervention, and corporate globalization. These policies have done nothing to help workers on both sides of the US border and instead, have contributed to a never ending cycle of war, state repression, and increasing inequality. Workers in the Global South are increasingly forced to choose between the deadly journey into the US, imprisonment in detention centers, and staying locked within cycles of increasing poverty and State violence.

Elites know that US workers are also aware that their lives are increasingly impoverished while inequality has only deepened. In the face of increasing strikes, the George Floyd Uprising, and growing social movements, those in power are hoping to instead direct class anger at those on the bottom – against the LGBTQ+ community, the houseless, and asylum seekers. Networks like Fox News are quick to push contrived fictions of a “migrant crime wave,” and politicians are happy to use it as a pretext to deny services and increase repression at home. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has only continued Trump’s policies of attacking immigrants, expanding Trump’s border wall, and calling for an increase of border militarization.

In the face of this, social movements must push back against both political parties, corporate media narratives, and their far-Right defenders collectively attacking migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. This can look like developing links and helping to grow mutual aid projects along the border, pushing for the abolition of ICE and detention centers, standing with communities pushing back against the state’s military build up, and also organizing in solidarity with asylum seekers already in the US.

It also means pointing out our real enemies: the systems of exploitation, repression, and control which benefit from violent domination. It means recognizing that the far-Right cottage industries turning out propaganda attacking other working and poor people are ultimately defending a system of mass inequality and State power. That both political parties have created the conditions which are pushing thousands to migrate and now they want to manufacture fear of these people in order to secure votes and their own power.

Let us work to build an autonomous politic of solidarity and mutual aid – outside and against these borders – all the while calling out our real enemies: the corporate, political, and military elites, their media institutions, and their defenders on the far-Right.

Photo by Robert Hickerson on Unsplash