April 18, 2025 - Van Hollen Able to Meet With Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Plus: protests this weekend and Earth Day, solidarity in higher education, supporting our troops in the face of illegal orders, and more
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VAN HOLLEN REFUSES TO GIVE UP, MEETS WITH KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA
After initially being blocked by Salvadoran troops from entering the concentration camp at Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) in the morning, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) prevailed and was able to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia last night – allowing us to confirm he is alive and passing along a message of love to his wife. We are still waiting for details, and Kilmar remains illegally locked away without access to an attorney or any due process, but this is a tremendous relief to so many of us and proof that a bold, courageous stand can make a difference. Let’s be sure to call or message Senator Van Hollen to thank him for his bravery and being willing to fight. And let’s keep calling our members of Congress to demand they work just as hard to bring Kilmar and all those unjustly imprisoned home and hold Trump accountable for defying the courts, scripts and language here.
OUR FREEDOM, OUR FUTURE - PROTESTS TOMORROW THROUGH EARTH DAY
Tomorrow marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the beginnings of America’s Revolutionary War. There is no better time to show up and fight for our freedom – “carrying not arms, but signs.” Well over 700 events are scheduled across all 50 states – we have our weekly round of #TeslaTakedowns, and the 50501 Movement is organizing protests, food drives, teach-ins, volunteer at shelters and more mutual aid. We can find a full list and map of events near us via here and here, along with the official websites for both groups and Mobilize.
We’re also fast coming up on Earth Day, arriving at a difficult moment for the American environmental movement. But groups like the Green New Deal Network, Sunrise and Third Act are making sure we still make some joyful noise – mobilizing to go All Out for Earth Day tomorrow and then continuing on through the leadup to May Day. We can find events already scheduled near us here, a toolkit if we want to host our own here and registry for new (or unlisted existing!) events here. Finally, we can all join in the formal kickoff for the Earth Day to May Day Mobilization, a virtual event on how Chicago teachers have won contract language around climate and environmental justice on MONDAY at 8PM Eastern, here.
BIG OIL WANTS A BIG LIABILITY SHIELD
Trump’s fossil fuel industry donors are likely looking forward to this Earth Day. After all, they have plenty to celebrate with their investment in him paying off big time. Now they’re getting even more ambitious, asking Congress to grant them special protection from lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for climate damages – a “get out of jail free” card just like they gave the gun industry. We need to draw the line now, before this idea gets momentum or the GOP attempts to sneak it into much-pass legislation. Food & Water Watch has set up a tool to urge our members of Congress to oppose this effort – let’s use it to send them a message here. (We can also send this message via Resistbot to our governors and state legislators asking for action on the polluter pays laws the fossil fuel industry is so frightened of by texting SIGN PQDLOO to 50409.)
SUPPORT UNIVERSITY MUTUAL DEFENSE COMPACTS
Faculty senates at Rutgers University, Indiana University-Bloomington and the University of Massachusetts have called for a mutual defense compact in which an alliance of universities would support each other against attacks against higher education by the Trump regime. Rutgers and Bloomington faculty senates want to organize schools in The Big Ten. The UMass faculty senate wants to organize the 250 land grant and public universities across the country.
If we live in CA, IL, IN, IA, MD, MI, MN, NE, OH, OR, PA, NJ, WA, WI, there is a Big Ten university in our state. Let’s contact Keith Marshall, keith.marshall@btaa.org, executive director of the Big Ten Academic Alliance and tell him to support the formation of a Mutual Defense Compact.
Every state has a land grant and/or public university. Let’s use this list to find schools in our state. Then, let’s contact their leadership and tell them to support the formation of a Mutual Defense Compact.
If we are connected with other universities as alumni, students, teachers, staff, family, or community member, let’s be sure to contact them and urge them to show solidarity with Harvard, any other targeted schools and any Mutual Defense Compact. (Some base language we can work from via is available here.)
FIGHTING BOOK BANS AND INCREASING ACCESSIBILITY
The 2023-2024 school year saw the highest number of book bans, ever, with a 300% increase over the previous school year. Most of these bans come from organized groups, not individual parents, who mainly target books with queer or POC characters, or books with heavier themes related to sex, mental health, and social justice. Alabama has gone so far as to defund one of its public libraries. Meanwhile, some libraries are fighting back by ensuring literary access for all young people in the United States- Brooklyn Public Library, San Diego Public Library, Seattle Public Library, and Boston Public Library are each participating in Books Unbanned, which provides free library e-cards to teenagers and young adults regardless of where they live.
Let's fight back against censorship and book bans by sharing information about Books Unbanned, especially on social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, where young people are more likely to see it. Then, let's take on at least one action from Pen America's 5 Ways to Fight Book Bans.
SUPPORT FOR TROOPS FACED WITH QUESTIONABLE ORDERS
Whether or not Trump invokes the Insurrection Act soon (recommended reading here), he is already using the military domestically in dangerous ways, including planning to deploy them against migrants, and he has repeatedly threatened to order our troops to suppress protests or conduct immigration raids in our cities. Our men and women in uniform can be criminally prosecuted for defying a lawful order – but also for following an unlawful one. What are they going to do if they are commanded to do something questionable or flagrantly wrong?
In this scenario there is support available for them. The GI Rights Hotline provides free, confidential and accurate information on US military regulations and practice to servicemembers, veterans, potential recruits and their families, and The Orders Project connects military members with experienced attorneys. Let’s spread the word to anyone in service we know and in our networks about these services – the GI Rights Hotline can be reached at 1-877-447-4487, by email at girights@girightshotline.org or here, and The Orders Project can be reached at ordersproject@nimj.org. We can also consider a donation to support these efforts here.
KEEPING AN EYE ON…
The Blue Revolution has begun…
We have a protest on Saturday. Nonviolent. Take deep breaths, but be loud. Remember President Eisenhower was a patriot and demonstrably supported the Supreme Court’s order Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (May 17, 1954). I covered what he did in Little Rock, AR, in my post below. Eisenhower ordered the elite 101st Airborne to restore order. The picture of those troop driving from Fort Campbell in the dark of night sticks in my mind. Regular Army troops activated to restore order is a rare occurrence. We should not forget why: the cause of anti-racism. The racism that prevailed in my youth is disgusting to me, and has been not only unleashed, but also promoted by a lawless administration. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/forking-roads?r=3m1bs