For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When President Trump resumed office, he immediately acted on one of his major campaign points: The location, detention, and repatriation of criminals and predators who are in the United States illegally. That effort is now well and truly underway - and there has been resistance from "sanctuary" jurisdictions, and left-wing politicians at every level, and there have been protests and even riots.
This resistance isn't limited to a few community organizers, some young skulls-full-of-mush college kids, and loudmouth activists, either. There are actual, by-gosh Marxist revolutionaries holding "training sessions" on how to resist the efforts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Now, I'm not one to point and shout "Communist!" at every run-of-the-mill leftist, but in this case, these are actual Marxists.
A piece published recently in the Washington Free Beacon has the details.
A radical left-wing group, Unión del Barrio (UdB), is offering "self-defense" training to combat Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The Latino-focused organization, which models itself on militant groups like the Black Panthers, is also trying to recruit members for daily car patrols to help "expel" ICE agents from neighborhoods.
UdB, an American left-wing revolutionary socialist group was established in 1981 to combat "all manifestations of colonial, imperialist, and neoliberal oppression." The group’s website features a photo of Cuban soldiers holding AK-47s and claims that America is a "violent and dangerous" "empire in decline." And last month, as President Donald Trump was about to take office and launch his promised mass deportations, UdB began offering self-defense trainings. It's also been involved in anti-ICE protests sweeping through Southern California.
While this group's stated purpose would prompt shouts of joy from anyone engaged in a game of "Communist buzzword bingo," these people seem serious. Have a look at their recruiting poster:
Communist revolutionaries - in the United States. pic.twitter.com/BiaQsHcvgk
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) February 9, 2025
Those, yes, are armed Cuban troops. The UdB makes no mention of armed resistance - but why this choice of images? Well, look at the UdB's choice of role models.
On UdB’s website, the group contends that protesting and radical rhetoric alone are not enough to bring about change. Instead UdB seeks to model itself on militant groups, such as the Brown Berets and the Black Panthers, as well as the socialist revolutions of Cuba and Venezuela.
According to a PowerPoint presentation used in trainings reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, UdB seeks to "identify, denounce and expel" ICE officers from Mexican neighborhoods. It does so by teaching people how to identify the different types of U.S. immigration agencies, how to identify uniformed and undercover immigration officers, the vehicles they use, and their methods of operation.
The socialist revolutions of Cuba and Venezuela, we might note, were violent affairs - a lot of people died. There is already unrest in the streets of some of our major cities over Pres. Trump's repatriation efforts, which makes one wonder how much of a role UdB and similar left-wing groups played in these protests and riots, in which so many of the offenders had strangely identical flags and other gear.
See Related: WATCH: Los Angeles Streets Erupt As Anti-Repatriation Protests Escalate Into Rioting
Is this truly UdB's goal? We might note that they are far from the only ones calling for vigorous, even violent resistance. Democrat members of Congress have (predictably) come completely unglued over Pres. Trump and border czar Tom "The Hammer" Homan's efforts, and the more success the administration has, the crazier the "revolutionaries" will get.
See Related: 'We Are at War!' Where, Oh Where, Is the Democrat Party's Histrionic Rage Rhetoric Headed?
Consider the history of groups like this. There can be little doubt that the UdB is counseling, not activism, not protest, but rebellion, even revolution. That's in all of their rhetoric, which mirrors the rhetoric of Marxist revolutionaries going back to the October Revolution. They very carefully avoid calling for armed resistance, but they offer training in "resistance and self-defense." They offer training in how to identify ICE vehicles - to what end? They offer training in how to identify individual ICE officers - again, to what end?
Should groups like this gain any traction, we could be in for a long, hot summer in our nation's major cities. The revolutionaries may also seek to expand their efforts out of the cities, but the United States isn't Cuba; any such effort won't end like these people think it will.
This seems appropriate.
