For his second term, President Trump promised “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.” In response to this inflammatory statement, institutions across the country have responded with various forms of resistance. On Thursday Nov. 13, Harasha Walia, Bill Ong Hing and Lorena Melgarejo held an online conference via Zoom, hosted by USF Professor and Founder of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga and Farima Pour-Khorshid, educator-organizer and associate professor of education at USF.
Walia is an activist and the author of “Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism.” Hing is also an activist, USF professor of law and migration studies, founder of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic and author of “Humanizing Immigration: How To Transform Our Racist and Unjust System.” Lorena Melgarejo serves as co-director and organizer at Faith in Action Bay Area.
The conference held the intent of establishing clarity and solidarity for those seeking “to contextualize the current xenophobic militarization of communities in North America, and to share lessons from resistance efforts that lay some foundation for a future without borders,” Pour-Khorshid said.
According to the Conversation, “animals,” “aliens” and “people with bad genes,” are the words President Trump and his supporters often use to describe immigrants.” This language, reinforced by media terms like “criminals” and “rapists,” further polarizes public opinion and strengthens border enforcement. Walia, Hing and Melgarejo condemn this rhetoric, with Melgarejo saying, “no immigrant can be illegal on stolen land.” They view the normalization of such language and policies as a serious injustice demanding collective resistance.
This demand began with the land acknowledgment, as Hernandez-Arriaga said:
“By honoring the land, our history, resistance and the ongoing struggle for justice. We begin by acknowledging that we all gather here on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land, which was never freely given,but instead taken in through the violent process of settler colonialism. The country as we know it was built on the attempted erasure of indigenous nations through genocide, forced displacement, reservations and policies designed to break people apart. That legacy is not a distant past. It is a reality that continues to shape our present. As children of immigrants, we recognize that the United States is a nation constructed through migration, labor and the dreams of people who crossed borders, often fleeing conditions created or worsened by U.S. policy…In naming this, we align ourselves in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, queer, immigrant and Latino communities and all communities of color whose lives continue to be shaped by ongoing oppression and structural violence…Tonight, we come together in the spirit of truth-telling and collective care.…And we honor our responsibility to uplift our communities.”
Throughout the conversation, Walia, Hing and Melgarejo outlined how they continue to fulfill “their responsibility.” They emphasized the need for continued resistance against dehumanizing and unethical policies and rhetoric, underscoring the importance of solidarity throughout their individual approaches to activism.
Through her writing, Walia connects border justice to combating anti-capitalist and anti-colonial struggles, emphasizing that borders are not just “lines on a map,” but are dynamic practices that reinforce capitalism and exclusionary nationalism. When speaking about her book with Fronterea y ley in Barcelona in July 2025, Walia said “borders are ultimately about maintaining global apartheid…we don’t live in a post-colonial world…we live in a colonial world in terms of the continuities of empire…borders maintain the idea of who has the right to live and where under what conditions.”
She draws attention to the economic, political and social forces that both create and maintain border regimes. Emphasizing that activism and the continued resistance of “any and all struggles that refuse capture, that refuse containment, that claim space…the literal irregular movement of people, despite the fact that billions and billions of euros and dollars are going into trying to make sure people don’t cross borders, but people still cross borders” Walia said. According to her, these are incredible political horizons for change.
Meanwhile, Hing brought a more legal activist perspective to the conversation, highlighting initiatives within the Immigration and Deportation Defense clinic here at USF law that actively works alongside San Francisco community members facing deportation, particularly unaccompanied children and families.
According to the San Francisco Examiner, “a coalition of attorneys and civil-rights organizations are finding new ways to advocate for immigrants. But it faces capacity constraints in a rapidly evolving legal landscape that plays out every week in immigration courthouses and ICE detention centers in San Francisco and across the nation.”
However, Hing insisted, “The manifestation of racial hatred and capitalism and the attempt to deport people, exists, but we exist too. And we have always existed; there have always been voices and activists to battle against…xenophobia and racial capitalism.”
Melgarejo built on this, emphasizing the power of faith and community. Her organization, Faith in Action Bay Area, is one of the primary organizations in the Bay Area, offering resources to local immigrant communities. Run entirely by the community, volunteers distribute red cards and are trained in identifying and reporting confirmed ICE sightings. Faith in Action is also a rapid response network that operates a 24/7 legal hotline aiding families. According to Melharijo, “In times of darkness, every little candle is light…within a few months, we have been able to get over a thousand U.S.-born citizens from all walks of life. They come from congregations, they come from neighborhoods, they come from communities, they are teachers and friends.”
In the movement for a future without borders, Hing, Malegrajo and Walia are champions of change, as they introduce alternative perspectives that humanize the experience of migration.
