AFT President Randi Weingarten has expressed her views following the Trump administration's actions in Los Angeles, where activists were arrested and the National Guard was deployed to address immigration protests.
Weingarten criticized these measures, stating: “This illegal, heavy-handed, and unnecessary crackdown on peaceful protesters is a trumped-up excuse to manufacture a spectacle and stoke further tensions. Instead of de-escalating, the administration seems intent on provoking and scapegoating hardworking immigrants to distract from its political woes.”
She continued by highlighting what she perceives as an overreach of power: “This is Trump wanting to be king, putting the National Guard on the ground to target and intimidate. Our founders resisted kings after the U.S. revolution because we fought for due process, for constitutionally protected speech and for not disappearing people off the streets or arresting people for nonviolent protests. Today, that means not brutalizing immigrant workers advocating for themselves and their families.”
The statement was released by Weingarten along with Fedrick C. Ingram, Secretary-Treasurer, and Evelyn DeJesus, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers.
Photographs, illustrations, and text from this statement cannot be used without permission from AFT.
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