Indivisible Santa Fe Newsletter

Next meeting: Monday May 5 , 2025 @7pm.
Christ Lutheran Church 
1701 Arroyo Chamiso Road, Santa Fe

MATCHING FUNDS: Beginning May 1, 2025 all donations made to Indivisible Santa Fe via Act Blue will be matched by Indivisible National, up to $500.   Just click he "DONATE " link below.

REMAIN UNITED! The best way to play into Trump’s chaos is to become divisive with each other. We have to keep focused on our objective: to defeat the Trump agenda. That’s our overriding focus. With every decision we make, we need to ask  if and how every action we take meets that goal. 
 

May Day protest at state Capitol draws hundreds protesting Trump policies

Protests at the Roundhouse are becoming a common sight these days as Democrats in blue New Mexico mobilize to voice their displeasure with President Donald Trump’s administration.

However, Thursday evening’s demonstration, which several hundred attended, had a theme. May 1 — May Day and International Workers Day, celebrating the contributions of workers and labor movements. The day offered a particular perspective of resistance for attendees not only in Santa Fe but at hundreds of May Day protests nationwide. Click here to read the full article in the Santa Fe New Mexican

NO KINGS DAY! JUNE 14TH

On June 14—Flag Day—Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday. A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn’t staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else. Click here for more details and to take the pledge. NO KINGS DAY! June 14th.

Thanks to our very active Communications Committee, Indivisible Santa Fe has a brand new website, which launched on May 2nd!

Join the League of Women Voters, Indivisible SOS and film maker Dan Partland for a free screening of #UNTRUTH the War for Democracy,  Thursday, May 8 6-8 pm at the Violet Crown Theater.  To get reserve your seat, email LWVSFC@gmail.com.

Providers, seniors fear end of Head Start program as Trump admin plans to slash funds

Lucia Trujillo has worked in federally funded Head Start programs — designed to kickstart the learning and development of children 5 and younger, particularly those from low-income families — for almost a quarter of a century.

A big reason behind her commitment to Head Start lies in the comprehensive support it provides to families. Click here to read the full article in the Santa Fe New Mexican

Heinrich Statement Slamming Trump's First 100 Days

Heinrich: “Donald Trump and Elon Musk are tanking our economy, pushing us into a recession, and throwing working families under the bus”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) released the following statement slamming Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office: Click here to read the full press release.

Lujan: President Trump's First 100 Days have Brought Costs, Chaos and Corruption

“In just 100 days, President Trump has driven up costs for New Mexicans, attacked essential programs like Social Security, and put our nation’s public health at risk. The American people are rejecting the increased costs, chaos, and corruption caused by this administration. I’ve heard from New Mexicans in every corner of our state who are deeply concerned about their livelihoods due to these reckless policies and hateful politics. Click here to read the full press release

The Latest on the Alien Enemies Act- Professor Heidi Li Feldman

Recall that the Supreme Court ruled that Venezuelans threatened with removal under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act had to use habeas corpus proceedings to challenge threatened deportations. Because habeas petitions must be filed in the geographic locale where detainees are held, this has led to litigation all over the country. Much of it has involved emergency motions seeking temporary restraining orders to halt deportations while the underlying legal issues are litigated. Now, for the first time, a court fully briefed on the relevant issues has ruled that the entire Trump effort to use the AEA as a basis for removing purported members of TdA is unlawful.Judge Fernando Rodriguez of the Southern District of Texas has entered a final judgement and permanent injunction granting habeas relief to the Venezuelans detained in that District and forbidding the Trump executive from detaining, transferring, or removing them on the basis of the AEA. That's the bottom line, but understanding how Rodriguez got there is more complex. Rodriguez, a Trump appointee to the federal bench, concluded that the ordinary meaning of the AEA does not encompass Trump's characterization of TdA activities in the U.S. as an "invasion" or "predatory incursion for the purposes of the AEA. Rodriguez relied on standard statutory interpretation to reach this conclusion, specifically the approach promulgated by  Antonin Scalia and embraced by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Rodriguez determined that dictionaries, letters, and court opinions from the time of the AEA's enactment (1798) prove that then-ordinary meaning of invasion and predatory incursion referred only to organized, armed groups encroaching the territory of the U.S. For purposes of his legal analysis, Rodriguez accepted as true Trump's claims that TdA is a transnational criminal organization under the direction of the government of the Venezuela via its sitting president, Maduro. But, he held that these facts, even if true, are insufficient to support a finding that TdA's activities count as an invasion or predatory incursion per the AEA.What Rodriguez was most careful to do was to delineate between the court's role as interpreter of the meaning of the AEA and the executive branch's role in making factual determinations about foreign affairs and national security. This is at the heart of the separation of powers stipulated by the Constitution. The Trump executive has argued that everything about its use of the AEA is not reviewable by courts. Rodriguez flatly rejected this. Furthermore, Rodriguez made it clear that the executive cannot simply rely on conclusory factual assertions to ground its classification of conduct as a foreign nation or government's invasion or predatory incursion under the AEA. He wrote: "[A]ny Presidential declaration ... must include sufficient factual statements or refer [to same] that enable a court to determine whether alleged conduct satisfies the conditions that support invocation of the statute." In other words, no semantic games allowed.The Trump executive will surely appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and whichever side loses there will seek Supreme Court review. The parties will fight over various steps in Rodriguez's analyses of the judiciary's role and the meaning of the AEA. Other federal district courts will rule on the validity of Trump’s use of the AEA as well as other substantive issues that will determine the fate of the Venezuelan detainees. Nevertheless, as of today, the position of one U.S. federal court is that, as a matter of law, the Trump regime may not rely on the AEA to deport Venezuelans it casts as members of TdA. This is a major inflection point in the effort to prevent Trump's efforts to make himself a military dictator.

This week marks the last first 100 days of the Trump Administration. 

You’re going to see a lot of coverage of it – analysis of what he’s done, how Democrats and the opposition have responded, and what the future portends. Indivisible is going to mark the milestone by showing up in solidarity with two of this Administration’s top targets: immigrants and workers. Thursday is May Day -- a nationwide day of action led by immigrant rights activists and labor unions.

Whether or not you’re in a labor union, and whether or not you’re an immigrant, the reason to show up is simple: this is how we beat an authoritarian putsch. The only strategy known to work against a national, fascistic power grab is widespread, organized, diverse, pro-democracy organizing. That’s it. To put it simpler: we win by showing up for each other and with each other.

When we named Indivisible “Indivisible,” we did it with this strategy in mind. Our only shot then, as now, was to link arms, treat an attack on one like an attack on all, and “stand Indivisible” with those under threat. That’s why eight years ago, Leah and I were out at a May Day protest in DC after Trump’s first 100 days -- and this Thursday we’ll be out again.

Trump, Musk, and congressional Republicans want to divide and conquer. They think they can terrorize immigrant communities and attack unions with impunity because most Americans are not immigrants or union workers. We show up because it’s the right thing to do -- and because we know Trump isn’t stopping his attacks there. They are moving right along to attack universities, law firms, news organizations, and nonprofits. Hell, Wikipedia is now in their crosshairs.

In 100 days, we’ve changed the political weather. We show up because this is how we build a nationwide, unified opposition. And 100 days in, that opposition is far more unified and, well, oppositional than it was in January. Take a step back and look at how the political winds have shifted.

The dominant strategic orientation within the Democratic Party as of January went something like this:

• Grassroots opposition isn’t going to materialize.
• Democrats should demonstrate their reasonableness by cutting deals with Trump.
• Democrats should cede narrative ground to Trump, who will sink himself.

For readers of this newsletter, you will know who I’m going to link to next. It’s James Carville, and his recommendation to Democrats to “roll over and play dead.”

But that strain of thought, which JB Pritzker described as the "Do nothing Democrats" over the weekend, is losing ground. In its place, we have dynamic, entrepreneurial, proactive leaders who are looking for ways to fight back. Maxwell Frost, Jamie Raskin, Jasmine Crockett, Greg Casar, Chris Murphy, Cory Booker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Robert Garcia, Maxine Dexter… the list goes on.

The “fight back” faction of Democratic Party is insurgent and ascendant. The “do nothing Dems” are looking weaker and more misguided by the day.

And this is not some naturally occurring event. In this moment, everybody --electeds, institutional leaders, the media -- are looking around to understand: where are the people? And we are showing the people want fighters, not sleepers. We -- all of us who have been showing up, cajoling, and celebrating leaders -- have created the conditions for that political shift. We did it at hundreds of town halls in February. We did it at hundreds more empty chair town halls in March. We did it at the single largest global day of protest in years for Hands Off in April.

We’re going to show up again this Thursday on May Day. And then we’re going to show up in a very big way in June. I hope after or before you show up for your May Day protest on Thursday, you’ll come to the What’s The Plan call at 3pm ET that day. We’re planning to roll out the next major global demonstration.

Trump is now an unpopular, lame duck president who just finished his last first hundred days. The future doesn’t belong to him -- it’s ours for the taking. To take it, we’ve got to take action. So read on to this week’s actions!

-- Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

Your weekly to-dos

1. Join a May Day mobilization to remind Trump and the oligarchs controlling our government of working people’s power. May Day celebrates the progress of working people and all those who fought to win additional labor rights and protections. As Trump and his cronies strip America down for profits, we’re joining organized labor, immigrants’ rights groups, and Hands Off! allies to mark the day with a nationwide show of working people’s solidarity.
2. If you have a GOP representative, call and get them on the record about efforts to defund SNAP and Medicaid. Republicans in Congress don’t want us talking about Trump’s tax scam (aka reconciliation plan) because they know it screws working people by taking trillions from Medicaid, SNAP, and more to pay for billionaires’ tax breaks. We need to get them on the record and hold them accountable. You can also click here to email your Republican senator(s).
3. If you live in a blue state, demand your state Attorney General fight hard against ICE overreach. Our new blue state toolkit includes a detailed explainer, links, scripts, and other resources so folks with Democratic Attorneys General can call on their AG to take action against illegal ICE abductions and the crackdown on political dissent.
4. Hear directly from Indivisible’s co-founders about May Day, the reconciliation fight, and more this Thursday at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Each Thursday, we take a step back to absorb the news, draw inspiration from the work Indivisibles and our allies are doing, and talk about how we fight back. This week, Leah and Ezra will share wins from our April recess events, May Day plans, and how to fight Trump’s reconciliation scheme.

About that attack on ActBlue

On Friday, Trump signed an executive memorandum targeting ActBlue -- the main payment processor used by progressive groups like Indivisible, thousands of charitable orgs, and the entire Democratic Party.

Many of you have reached out with concerns about how this impacts your ability to support Indivisible and other organizations or candidates, so we’d like to take a moment to dispel Trump’s lies and answer some common questions:

Is it safe and legal to donate via ActBlue right now? Yes, ActBlue is still powering grassroots fundraising, and they have no plans to give in to Trump’s bullying. Nor do we. You can donate to Indivisible on ActBlue using this secure link, and if you’d like, leave them a tip at the end to show your support.

Is my data still safe in ActBlue? Yes, we chose ActBlue as our donation processor because they follow all the rules and have really strong data-protection policies and technology. They’ve also assured partners that they will not comply with any requests that could jeopardize people’s private information.

There are a lot of misconceptions about this, so we want to put it in bold: ActBlue does not sell your information to campaigns or other organizations. But if you’ve ever given to a campaign via ActBlue and later began getting unwanted texts and emails from candidates you’ve never heard of, you’re not imagining it! Unfortunately, some campaigns and orgs (not us!) sell donor info. It sucks. But remember -- that’s a bad practice of those campaigns/orgs, which they’d do regardless of the fundraising platform they were using. It’s got nothing to do with ActBlue.

But what is Trump alleging? And why? Trump’s memorandum parrots right-wing misinformation about ActBlue processing fake/foreign donations. It’s nonsense -- ActBlue follows state and federal regulations, requires donors to affirm US citizenship/residency, and has processes in place to prevent fraudulent donations.

As for why? He’s a bully and a fascist. He knows he can’t outright outlaw his opposition, so he’s trying to kneecap it by cutting off its greatest source of funding. It’s all about political power and control.

But we aren’t giving in. ActBlue is standing strong in the face of this intimidation, and we’re standing by them.

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