New York City Council Member Organizes Against ICE Raids

We are at a turning point in the history of the United States. If the people in the city of Minneapolis, can defeat ICE, they will have demonstrated they can win anywhere. This is a strong momentum in rolling back fascism here in the USA. ICE, above all, is criticized as being a terrorist outfit with a purpose to terrorize the population. Yet in contrast, ICE claims to be looking to capture and deport illegal immigrant criminals. It has a massive budget of $179 billion for the next three years. They have sent 3000 agents into Minneapolis and outnumber the Minneapolis police force five to one.

Two weeks ago, Renee Good, a poet and mother of three children was murdered during a confrontation with ICE agents. The official claim is that she’d threatened an ICE agent with her car. Last week Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the VA hospital was murdered during an anti-ICE protest. Did Kristi Noem, the Trump appointed head of the Department of Homeland Security lied when she said that Pretti was out to massacre ICE agents? Both murders were filmed by people in Minneapolis and showed widely online and on television, exposing ICE for what it is, and the government for the false narratives it attempts to spread.

If they can get away with it in Minneapolis it will spread fear in Los Angeles and New York, or Philadelphia and Memphis, Washington DC and Portland, Maine, or everywhere and anywhere. Despite ICE’s huge budget of billions, it can be defeated. The actions of the people of Minneapolis have inspired communities with hope. And without hope, we tend to do nothing.

What can we do to resist and defeat ICE? The people of Minneapolis have shown the way. They’ve created a network of people working together, providing aid and support, block by block, Signal chat by Signal chat. They’ve provided food for those afraid to leave their homes, driven their kids to school, protested in the streets constantly, no matter how extreme the cold weather.

We speak today with New York City Councilwoman Alexa Aviles. She represents the heavily immigrant neighborhood of Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York, and has been organizing against ICE.

Guest - Alexa Aviles is a socialist and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (the “DSA”). She was born in Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. She came to the United States as a young girl. Aviles attended Columbia University and recieved her Master’s degree in public administration. She’s the mother of two daughters. Before being elected to her position on the City Council in 2021, she worked for decades in social justice work. She was elected to the City Council five years ago and ran on a platform supporting affordable housing, workers’ rights, immigrants, and environmental health. She’s Chair of the Immigration Committee of the Council.

----

How to Stop a Nuclear War - Part 2

Two weeks ago, we spoke with award-winning journalist and filmmaker Paul Jay about his upcoming documentary, How to Stop a Nuclear War. Scheduled for release in fall 2027, the film draws on in-depth interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and is narrated by Emma Thompson. It examines just how close humanity has come to nuclear catastrophe — and why Ellsberg’s decades-long warnings about nuclear policy and power remain urgently relevant today.

We ran out of time in that conversation, so we’re very glad to welcome Paul Jay back to the show to pick up where we left off. Today, we’ll continue our discussion about the ongoing nuclear threat, how it’s shaped by political and corporate interests, and what the public needs to understand in order to push for meaningful change.

Guest – Paul Jay, award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and founder of theAnalysis.news. Jay has spent decades investigating the inner workings of government, corporate power, and military policy, combining investigative rigor with a storyteller’s clarity. He is currently working on a new project, How to Stop a Nuclear War, a groundbreaking documentary set to be released in the fall of 2027 based on extensive interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and narrated by Emma Thomson. Through rare interviews and in-depth research, the film examines how close humanity has come to nuclear catastrophe—and why Ellsberg’s warnings remain urgently relevant today.