2025 has been a hard year. The federal administration’s attacks on workers, its racist deportation machine, and the sheer cruelty that appears to motivate it all has torn families apart, perpetuated genocidal policies here and abroad, fueled overt displays of racism and seems intent upon pushing our communities into the shadows. These challenges are not new, but they have intensified.
Despite everything thrown at workers and at immigrants, community has stuck together. Because of that, when I look backward at 2025 there is a lot to be proud of.
Our work centering our members and local communities to expand awareness of immigrant worker rights in California and supporting community rapid response networks and mutual aid across Southern California stand out as a key, central part of our work.
This year we continued to organize with warehouse workers and communities against low wages, displacement, unsafe working conditions and surveillance – both inside of the warehouse and in our community. Amazon Web Services is an integral tech component for the Dept. of Homeland Security and ICE.
On the ground we were part of two important fights. The Los Angeles Worker Center Network (LAWCN), a coalition of eight worker organizations including the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, joined a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to challenge ICE’s stops of Southern Californians based on racial profiling. While the lawsuit was unsuccessful in winning an injunction at the Supreme Court, leading to the infamous “Kavanaugh Stops,” the lawsuit is proceeding in district court. We celebrated a major victory in San Bernardino and Highland where community members organized to stop a massive warehouse development that would have led to the loss of homes for more than 2,600 residents.
As we look ahead, we remain committed to building power with immigrant workers through our campaign to expand unemployment benefits for all workers, confronting injustice, and as part of a broader resistance fighting for the right of every person to live and work with dignity. We’re not going anywhere and we are glad to be standing shoulder to shoulder with an incredible community. Rest up, we are going to need even more strength in 2026.
-Sheheryar Kaoosji
