Table of Contents
- Overview of the Rally for Collective Action
- Materials that will be supplied to rally-goers to distribute to area businesses
- Where rally-goers should give feedback on their visits to area businesses
- Conclusion
1. Overview of the Rally for Collective Action
What: Organizing Citizens and Businesses to Protect Workers and Immigrants
Where: New Mexico State Capitol, The Roundhouse, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail
When: Labor Day, Monday, September 1, 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Hundreds of people are expected to gather in Santa Fe on Labor Day to take action against Trump’s war on workers and immigrants, one of many rallies across the nation organized by May Day Strong and local partners. These include Indivisible Santa Fe, GET Indivisible, Indivisible SOS, NOW Santa Fe Chapter, Veterans for Peace Santa Fe Chapter, Third Act New Mexico, DSA Santa Fe, Santa Fe Better Together, and the Democratic Party of Santa Fe County.
Unlike past demonstrations (Hands Off on April 5 and No Kings on June 14) that brought masses into the public square to register their dissent, Indivisible Santa Fe will be using this event to organize and train rally-goers to take a concrete step to protect businesses and workers from ICE raids. We will be distributing materials for rally-goers to bring to area businesses, including a window sign that specifically asserts the business's rights against ICE entering the premises, or private parts of them, and an informational brochure, in English and Spanish, explaining what businesses should do if ICE shows up—including how to prepare for that eventuality.
The event will begin with speakers. Topics will include the importance of all of us collectively acting to fight for democracy in the United States (Daphne Miller, Treasurer, Indivisible Santa Fe), the role of labor unions in this fight (Lauren Leib, president of the National Treasury Employees Union Local 340, which represents federal Bureau of Land Management workers in New Mexico), and the legal situation facing workers (Becca Sheff, ACLU of Mexico and Jessica Martinez, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center). After that, another speaker (Heidi Li Feldman, Indivisible Santa Fe member and Professor of Law Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center) will lead a training for the Rally audience, explaining the materials described above and how to invite businesses to utilize them.
The Rally for Collective Action is a bold effort to involve our entire community in protecting the workplace from authoritarian encroachment by the federal executive branch as it pursues its attack on the most vulnerable workers - immigrants, workers of color, and Spanish-speaking workers.
The bottom line: we are shifting the focus from simply convening publicly every six weeks or so to using this Labor Day Rally to initiate concrete, every-day action to protect people from the authoritarian overreach of the Trump regime and to fight authoritarianism’s encroachment in New Mexico. We want everybody who comes to the Rally to have the chance to be hands-on in the struggle to preserve democracy and civil rights.
2. Materials that will be supplied to rally-goers to distribute to area businesses
Each person at the Rally will be invited to pick up a packet of materials to bring to an area business. The materials are for all businesses, including retail stores; construction sites; warehouses; professional offices (doctors, dentists, lawyers); restaurants; factories; and medical facilities. Each packet will contain a window sign, an informational brochure in English, an informational brochure in Spanish, and a guide for the attendee. We will have a large supply of these materials, which will be handed out first come, first serve until we have none left.
The window sign
Below is watermarked copy of the 8.5 x 11 inch window sign that attendees will offer to businesses to put in their windows, at reception areas, or on their front doors. Note: this sign asserts the business's Fourth Amendment Rights, telling ICE and other law enforcement that they must respect them.
Informational brochures for businesses
These explain to businesses what to do if ICE shows up, and how to prepare in advance. Among other things, they describe what parts of a business are private and what parts are not; include information about how to make it clear that the private areas are private; and tell owners and managers how to recognize a lawful judicial search warrant and tell it apart from other paperwork ICE agents sometimes show.
Here are some excerpts from the English-language and the Spanish-language brochures.
Guidance for attendees
There will be a handout for rally-goers, reminding them of what to do, giving a sample script to speak to business owners and managers, and providing answers to questions they may get.
3. Where rally-goers should give feedback on their visits to area businesses
There will be a link here and on the handout for Rally attendees indicating where to provide feedback after attendees go to area businesses. While we hope every area business will want to display a window sign, we want to try to keep track of any that decline so that we can ask rally-goers not to keep revisiting those businesses.
4. Conclusion
The Rally for Collective Action is a bold effort to involve our entire community in protecting the workplace from authoritarian encroachment by the federal executive branch as it pursues its attack on the most vulnerable workers—immigrants, workers of color, and Spanish-speaking workers. We hope hundreds, even thousands, of you will join us at the Roundhouse on Labor Day 2025!
