The Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America (LVDSA) fight to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and build a future where all people can live, work, and move safely and with dignity. Our fabulous Las Vegas is an iconic world-class destination because of its diversity and immigrant contributions; we should celebrate and invigorate this workforce. Yet, today’s young and diverse workers are subject to vicious, violent ICE raids where agents are rewarded for exceeding quotas of captured humans, never mind how these numbers are attained. Our neighbors are not tally marks to meet ICE agents’ monthly goals, and we are appalled that our local workers face this reality. As ICE activity ramps up in the Las Vegas Valley, we heed the call to action in supporting vital immigrant-led resistance.

LVDSA volunteers are proud to participate in the Nevada Immigrant Coalition’s (NIC) Fourth Amendment Know-Your-Rights Campaign, which includes ongoing canvassing of Las Vegas businesses to prepare owners and workers for unlawful ICE searches. LVDSA is eager to meet the needs of neighbors who are most vulnerable to these sweeps – nonwhite workers in bustling, diverse business districts with warehouses, big-box stores, and corporate chains. As Las Vegas’s young and diverse workforce shows up each day to get the job done, they are expected to serve customers with a smile while ignoring the fact that ICE could and has shown up at any moment to take people away. 

Pounding the pavement

Last month, LVDSA joined NIC for another round of canvassing local businesses. The goal of these interactions is to clarify workers’ rights, provide useful information, and encourage the staff to have a plan should ICE arrive. 

”Although we have not seen the same level of enforcement activity in Nevada like in Minneapolis, Chicago, or Los Angeles, our neighbors and our families are being kidnapped,” NIC coordinator Noé Orosco tells the group of canvassers before they head out. Orosco continues, “Last year there was an increase of over 200 percent in detentions in Nevada, and 60 percent of people detained have no criminal convictions. That’s why we are working with DSA—so our neighbors and communities know what to do if they are impacted by the deportation machine.” 

Orosco explains what resources organizers are providing businesses, such as large ACLU-published know-your-rights signs to keep in the staff room, a stack of red wallet-sized know-your-rights cards at the cash registers for customers and employees, and No ICE Allowed signs that businesses can put in their windows. 

LVDSA applauds local businesses standing up to ICE.

Read carefully: only judge-signed search warrants allow ICE in private areas.

Unfortunately, a No ICE Allowed sign does not guarantee that ICE agents will keep out. They are indeed allowed in public spaces, such as the entrance area or the counter where one orders food, like all of us. The business can, however, refuse to serve or interact with ICE agents without a judge-signed search warrant. In restaurants and food chains across the country, employees stand up to ICE and refuse them service. Las Vegas workers can do the same.

Poster by ACLU Nevada

In cities that experienced intense “blitz” raids, reports abounded of masked, armed ICE agents storming into businesses flashing blank administrative warrants to gain entry to private areas, such as the staff room, manager’s office, or locker rooms. ACLU and NIC stress the importance of staff calmly and carefully examining all documents for the specific markings of a judicial search warrant, especially noting the date and whether a judge has signed it. A search warrant signed by a judge is the only document that permits ICE to go beyond public areas.  

Envisioning a safe, inclusive, and aspirational Las Vegas Valley for the next generation 

The group of canvassers breaks into teams, each assigned to a business district where recent ICE pickups were reported, each with a tote bag full of literature and a list of establishments to hit.

While it’s a relief to know constitutional rights protect employees and customers, meeting the young Las Vegans working in these businesses every day still leaves canvassers uneasy. In a popular nationwide sandwich store near Craig and Losee, two teenage cashiers–both nonwhite– study the volunteers with polite suspicion as they introduce themselves. In the clean, familiar atmosphere ubiquitous to corporate food chains, it’s hard to imagine the two young cashiers encountering a group of masked ICE agents carrying guns. 

“Hi, I’m Anthony. I’m an organizer here with my friends on behalf of the Nevada Immigrant Coalition to let you know that ICE has been in the area. There was just a pickup right there,” says Anthony Lambert, a member of LVDSA, as he points out the window to the intersection. The teens nod –they have heard. “You have rights, and we want to make sure you know them.” The youths exchange glances, eyebrows raised, as Lambert hands them information and highlights the most important points. “If ICE comes in without a signed warrant, are they allowed behind the counter? In the staff room? How about the manager’s office? No. And you don’t have to talk to them.” By the time Lambert and team leave, the teenagers smile and thank the organizers.

Most of the businesses the team enters have young employees –many teens of color–working behind the counters. They may be learning how to navigate the pitfalls of capitalism in the real world for the first time – rude customers, outlandish complaints, discrepancies in the accounting at the end of a long day. Working in the service industry as a teenager is a rite of passage in American culture, yet leaving these teens to fend for themselves against hostile, masked, armed ICE agents waving phony warrants seems terribly wrong. How does this cultivate the sense of autonomy, aspiration, and community spirit among our youths? How does this prepare them to be the next generation of leaders?  Watching these teens’ faces turn from frustration to gratitude is satisfying. “Even just for today, these guys know there are people here trying to help, who know this isn’t right,” reflects LVDSA organizer Mikey LaFrambois. Hopefully, these workers will rely on their Fourth Amendment rights when the time comes.

Visit LVDSA.org to get involved with ICE resistance and immigrant advocacy today.

References

Moeller, J. (2025, June 17). Las Vegas hospitality industry braces for impact as ICE raids resume in workplaces. KTNV Channel 13 Action News. https://www.ktnv.com/news/las-vegas-hospitality-industry-braces-for-impact-as-ice-raids-resume-in-workplaces 

Nevada Immigrant Coalition. (2026). https://nvimmigrantcoalition.org/about/

News 3 Staff. (2025, July 16). Nevada leaders respond after airport ICE detention attempt sparks disturbance. News 3 Las Vegas. https://news3lv.com/news/local/nevada-leaders-respond-after-airport-ice-detention-attempt-sparks-disturbance-ice-ice-arrests-ice-agents-department-of-homeland-security-harry-reid-international-airport-federal-agents-government-catherine-cortez-masto-senator-jacky-rosen-joe-lombardo 

Pierini, D., & Hanson, A. (2026, January 13). Security guard stands firm against ICE agents at north Minneapolis McDonald’s. Sahan Journal. https://sahanjournal.com/news-partners/mcdonalds-security-guard-stands-up-to-ice-10-toes-down/ 

Winger, E. (2026, January 27). ICE’s secret policy to forcibly enter homes without a judicial warrant threatens all Americans. American Immigration Council. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ices-secret-warrantless-home-entry-policy/ 

https://sahanjournal.com/news-partners/mcdonalds-security-guard-stands-up-to-ice-10-toes-down/

 

DSA should use media to promote its socialist vision and counter corporate media’s distortions.

The post Telling Our Story appeared first on Democratic Left.

A BRDSA member reflects on the relationship between motherhood, the construction of local concentration camps for children, and the ongoing struggle for worldwide liberation.

Date: Wednesday, September 2 2026 at 6pm PST

Monthly Steering Committee Meetings are open to members to observe but, generally, only Steering Committee members may vote and participate.

By: Tony A.

AIPAC-Linked PACs and Big Tech Cash Flood MA-6 as Spending Tops $10M; Nguyen’s Gaza Flip-Flop Draws Scrutiny

ANDOVER – Democratic voters inundated with mailers and advertisements for the race to replace Seth Moulton in Massachusetts 6th District primary this Tuesday could easily be confused by the array of inconspicuously named Super PACs listed in the ads’ tiny “Paid for By” disclaimers.

The race is now the most expensive House race in Massachusetts history, blowing past the previous record set in the 4th District in 2020, which saw genocide enthusiast Rep. Jake Auchincloss elected with over $10,000,000 spent. The record was surpassed by June 30, according to the last FEC data, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions more, have been spent since in July and August.

One PAC is drawing significant scrutiny: Pro-Choice Majority Action (PCMA), dropping $500,000 for self-styled progressive State Representative Tram Nguyen in recent weeks.

As reported by Sludge, SunlightHub, and Drop Site’s Ryan Grim on Breaking Points, the PAC is funded largely by its affiliate PAC Elect Democratic Women Action Fund, which in turn receives most of its backing from AIPAC’s PAC, which it calls United Democracy Project.

The previously reported $450,000 has been supplanted with another $50,000 donation on Friday, bringing the total to half a million dollars.

Many commenters have questioned why AIPAC would support Nguyen, who recently reversed course and acknowledged Israel’s genocide in Gaza and backed an arms embargo. Pro-Choice Majority Action’s unsuccessful contributions against DSA-backed Democratic nominee Melat Kiros in Colorado had a more straightforward goal: retaining pro-Israel incumbent Dianna DeGette.

Some point to Tram’s previous ducking on the issue, and a jaw-dropping statement on Massachusetts Peace Action’s candidate questionnaire, claiming in January of 2026:

An arms embargo on Israel could result in genocide… [Hamas and Hezbollah’s] leaders have been upfront in their intention to remove all Jewish Israelis from the land.

Others have speculated in similar races across the country that AIPAC could have subversive aims to divide progressives in a crowded field, clearing the way for the establishment pick to succeed. That could be at play here, since longtime pro-Palestine candidate and Massachusetts’ first Arab-American State Representative Jamie Belsito is a top contender in the race.

It was in Breaking Points’ August 25 interview with Jamie Belsito that questions of AIPAC’s influence in the race reached a national audience, after Working Mass’s August 19 reporting on Dan Koh’s $180,000k received from overlapping donors with AIPAC.

Belsito told Grim she met with a representative of Elect Democratic Women (EDW) in DC early in her campaign and was told to take AI- and AIPAC-linked Super PAC funding to win the race. Belsito refused, and lo and behold, last month EDW endorsed Nguyen.

The district is now flooded with PAC-funded advertisements, with this reporter based in Andover receiving a mailer every day for the past week in support of Dan Koh—from AI-aligned Think Big PAC and DraftKings-buoyed New Leadership PAC—and ads for Koh and Nguyen regularly served on social media.

While the race is setting the record for most expensive U.S. House race in Massachusetts history, there has been an almost complete media blackout on the race. Former Biden/Marty Walsh assistant Dan Koh is the presumed frontrunner, no independent polling has been done in the district, despite the record spending. Koh staffers could get a handsome payout on Kalshi or Polymarket with consistently probable odds on this race, now at 90%, Nguyen having tanked there in recent weeks and the lights dimming for self-funded corporate exec bobblehead John Beccia as well.

Recent polls paid for by PR consultanting firms on behalf of Koh, Nguyen, and progressive challenger Beth Andres-Beck have all shown their candidate in the lead.

Koh, Nguyen, Belsito, and “You ‘Beccia have consistently taken top spots in those polls.

With pressure to rally the progressive vote around a single acceptable candidate, Nguyen was boosted by endorsements from Squad member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, AIPAC-backed Lori Trahan and the pro-Moulton Boston Globe Editorial Board in the last week, giving them a big boost from their previous number-one endorser, Massachusetts Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano.

Onlookers were then baffled by an unusual endorsement of Nguyen by watchdog platform TrackAIPAC on August 26, after TrackAIPAC had just endorsed Belsito on August 19, and just one day after TrackAIPAC posted on Instagram Sludge’s reporting on Nguyen’s $450,000 in AIPAC-linked PAC backing.

The post has since been deleted.

TrackAIPAC Shenanigans

Commenters on TrackAIPAC’s endorsement of Nguyen on Instagram ratioed the Nguyen’s campaign’s comments on the post. One commented:

This endorsement is being thrown in the face of pro-Palestine organizers in the district by the supporters of the Nguyen campaign, which was explicitly pro-Israel just a few weeks ago.

Others noted that the endorsement graphic lacked the “$0.00 from pro-Israel PACs” graphic that typically appears on TrackAIPAC’s endorsements.

Nathan Story, an independent journalist with Sunlight Hub who, through prolific public records requests, has tracked pro-Israel outside spending in elections throughout Massachusetts, said:

[TrackAIPAC] spoke with her; she pledged to support the positions they care about. My concern is whether she is being sincere in those positions, given how long it has taken her to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza.

TrackAIPAC is no mere watchdog, but a coveted endorsement this election cycle.

DSA, Working Class, and Grassroots Scrambling

Progressives and labor unions are, as often the case, split in this race.

With the urging of former Boston mayor and U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, a one-time Laborers’ Union 223 business representative, Dan Koh—Walsh’s chief of staff at City Hall and the Department of Labor—has amassed endorsements from nearly all area labor unions. This, even as Koh gets millions in PAC support from Big Tech, AIPAC donors, and private equity managers.

DSA is also split. Boston DSA, which includes district neighborhood groups North Shore DSA and parts of Merrimack Valley DSA, did not endorse in the race, but issued a voter guide recommending against Koh and Nguyen and third moderate candidate John Beccia.

The race included three progressive candidates: Beth Andres-Beck, Jamie Belsito, and Mariah Lancaster. The local DSA support had been split among the three, with calls to consolidate behind one progressive gone unheeded.

On August 29, Lancaster dropped out of the race and endorsed Rep. Tram Nguyen, against Boston DSA’s voter guide recommendation.

In many parts of DSA (e.g. NYC-AOC, LA, Denver-Kiros, Michigan-McKinney), a candidate like Belsito with electoral experience joining and aligning with DSA would likely receive DSA’s backing. Nonetheless, amidst a split field of multiple candidates with largely paper memberships in DSA, as well as capacity concerns, Boston DSA declined to endorse a candidate.

Cluster**** or Tossup?

The North Shore and the inland Merrimack Valley, which make up the 6th District (some of the Merrimack Valley being in District 3), are prime organizing terrain for DSA in the region as the organization grows. The North Shore Neighborhood Group is the largest in the Boston chapter behind Cambridge, Somerville, and Allston/Brighton, all in the city center. The region has a significant working-class base and history, and its largest city, Lynn, has the highest proportion of Black residents north of Boston and one of the highest proportions of immigrants in Massachusetts.

With the split field, DSA organized to prioritize its capacity elsewhere in the Greater Boston area, and the tremendous outside spending flowing into the race, many will be happy simply that corporate “moderate” ghoul Seth Moulton will be ousted. But the district faces the specter of electing Genocide Joe Koh, or, in Nguyen, a career progressive-label politician with a knack for cozying up to power — either of which could become significantly harder to unseat as incumbents.

Races like these show the tremendous obstacles the disorganized left faces, with corrupt Beacon Hill leadership-backed “progressives”, the labor bureaucracy, big money, and big egos all going to bat. Meanwhile, the North Shore’s working class and poor keep getting poorer, yacht club members in Manchester-By-The-Sea and Marblehead grow richer, and ICE family separations continue daily.

Tony A is a contributing writer to Working Mass and a resident of Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District.

The post Tram Nguyen Gets $500K in AIPAC-Linked Ad Money as TrackAIPAC Faces Scrutiny in Record MA-6 Race appeared first on Working Mass.

DSA members have put together campaigns that have won hundreds of seats for socialists, at all levels of government. We’re excited to grow that number, but we need the skills and strategy to do it.

Included in this series are Electoral 101, 201, and 202. Join us with comrades from your chapter to get your electoral program started on the path to victory!

Sept 19 – Electoral 101

The DSA Difference

The Electoral 101 is a great workshop for any chapter! With so many new members joining for the first time and so many coming back into the fold following our historic wins across the country this year, it’s a great time to learn about what the DSA Difference is! What separates DSA from other organizations in the left who engage in electoral politics? What makes for a good candidate? What is socialist electoral strategy? Answers to these questions and more await!

Electoral 101: The DSA Difference – Sept 19th 3pm ET

Oct 3 – Electoral 201

The Path to Victory

The Electoral 201 is all about the strategy! We know that it takes good planning to run a class struggle electoral campaign and win! But what steps are necessary to make informed decisions as a chapter? What makes for a good goal? What are the most important tactics? What is the path to victory? Join us on Oct 3rd at 3pm ET to find out!

Electoral 201: The Path To Victory – Oct 3rd 3pm ET

Oct 17 – Electoral 202

Building a Field Program

The Electoral 202 is about putting our plans into action! Launching and building an electoral campaign can be a daunting task! Luckily we have a ton of resources and advice to share! What are the most important tactics to focus on when building a field program? How do we shape the volunteer and member experience to build a DSA Difference campaign? Hope you’re ready to get in the weeds with a ton of information and skill sharing!

Electoral 202: Building a Field Program – Oct 17th 3pm ET

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