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Opinion for The Latino Newsletter
I remember the weight of the cap and gown in my hands during my DACA organizing days. Polyester, cheap, and symbolic. We held sit-ins inside DHS offices and detention centers, risking arrest while presenting ourselves as deserving of protection because we were college-bound, English-speaking, and exceptional.
But before I was putting on caps and gowns for Dreamers sit-ins and protests, I was also pulling on jeans and a T-shirt to slip into garment factories in downtown Los Angeles. Women who looked like my mom and tía rocked babies with one foot while pushing the treadle pedal with the other, their fingers never stopping.
When we organized for DACA in the early 2010s, we made a calculated choice to separate ourselves from the rest of our community. We drew a line between undocumented youth and the rest of the undocumented population, separating ourselves from the people who didn't fit the narrative of exceptionalism.
It was a difficult choice, but it worked. By 2012, we had created enough pressure that the Obama administration had to create DACA.
It wasn’t about leaving anyone behind, but breaking open space that didn’t yet exist. From there, I dedicated myself to building the larger movement for the rest of us.
Now, watching the second Trump administration go after DACA recipients, federal workers, and white women all the same, it’s clear we need bolder tactics. Exceptionalism worked then, but it won't work now. No credential protects you when the system treats all working people as disposable. We need the courage from the DACA fight and the solidarity from the labor movement to forge a way forward.
After winning DACA, I joined the AFL-CIO to build partnerships between traditional unions and worker centers. When Trump won in 2016, and the AFL-CIO made a choice to play ball with him in search of their own self-preservation, I disagreed and left. I then moved to the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades to lead strategic campaigns to expand its membership and fight corporations’ abuse of workers in the industry.
In Nashville, we took on a developer when they hired non-union subcontractors paying immigrant workers half of what union painters earned for the same work. All of those workers walked off the job and came to the union hall, sparking a months-long fight for labor standards in the growing city.
Building these coalitions was essential. We had to expand the tent or watch it collapse.
When Bernie Sanders ran in 2020, I joined his campaign as Deputy National States Director, part of an amazing team that helped secure his primary wins in Nevada and California. In Nevada, the platform of healthcare for all and workers' rights resonated with voters who handed the Senator an upset in the primaries.
Now, the second Trump administration is making it clear that everyone is on the chopping block.
DACA recipients are facing detention, Black women are being pushed out of the workforce, and white women are losing affirmative action protections in federal contracting. Federal agents are now killing U.S. citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
On May 1, 2025, hundreds of thousands of us marched as part of May Day Strong, a coalition of labor unions, immigrant rights organizations, and community groups.
Our demands were interconnected. End the billionaire takeover, fully fund public schools, and healthcare for all. They all came down to the same principle: this country should put workers first, not billionaires who profit from war and deportations.
A full year into the Trump administration, workers are continuing to fight back. In Minneapolis, residents launched an enormous “Day of Truth and Freedom” where student and worker walkouts and boycotts have echoed across the country. Hundreds of businesses shut down and tens of thousands marched in subzero weather, demanding ICE leave their city. May Day Strong and organizations like Organizing Revival, Rising Majority Together, and dozens of union locals are running community-labor action schools to train organizers for what’s coming next.
This May 1, we're going bigger. We're organizing rallies and marches across the country to show billionaires and corporations what a day without workers looks like.
Imagine a day when we don’t show up to work, when we don’t buy anything, when we all take to the streets instead to show the billionaires and corporations that depend on us that nothing works without us. That’s the collective power we’re building. That's the power we have when we stand together. The fight for DACA taught me to be brave. The labor movement taught me true working-class solidarity.
Today we need both.
Neidi Dominguez is the founding Executive Director of Organized Power In Numbers, formerly known as Unemployed Workers United. Neidi is a committed organizer, experienced campaigner, and visionary strategist in the immigrant rights and workers’ rights movements, and has been recognized as a Ford Global Fellow and an Aspen Job Quality Fellow for her leadership in the labor movement.
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What We’re Reading
Top Noem Aide Has Role in DHS Contracts: From ProPublica, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem misled Congress about the role of her aide, Corey Lewandowski, in DHS contracts, according to internal DHS records and former and current DHS officials. Although Lewandowski is not a paid government employee, he was acting as a top official and helped Noem run the agency. When previously questioned by Congress, Noem said he had no role in approving contracts.
Bondi Subpoenaed Over Epstein Testimony: From NBC, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi over her testimony on the Epstein files. The motion passed by a vote of 24-19, with five Republicans voting in favor of the subpoena. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who presented the motion, told reporters afterwards that the Epstein case is “one of the greatest cover-ups in American history.”
Cuba Files Terrorism Charges Against US Boat Suspects: From The Washington Post, Cuba has filed terrorism charges against six suspects the country says were in a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on Cuban soldiers off the island’s coast. The government said that the 10 heavily-armed Cubans opened fire on Cuban soldiers as they were trying to infiltrate the island. A dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammo, and 11 pistols were found on the boat, the Cuban government said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, Cuba reported an island-wide blackout.
Julio Ricardo Varela and Carlos Berríos Polanco edited and published this edition of The Latino Newsletter.
The Latino Newsletter welcomes opinion pieces in English and/or Spanish from community voices. Submission guidelines are here. The views expressed by outside opinion contributors do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this outlet or its employees.