Resisting the Upcoming Trump/MAGA Mass Deportations: Interview with Silky Shah

On this episode of No Borders Media (December 2024), we are continuing our ongoing series about resistance to Trump and MAGA, and launching an overlapping new series looking at resisting the mass deportations that Trump and his officials have promised, and have already begun organizing, in advance of the inauguration on January 20, 2025. This episode is a feature-length interview with Silky Shah, the executive director of the Detention Watch Network, and the author of the recently published book, Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition. She has worked as an organizer on issues related to immigration detention, the prison-industrial complex, and racial and migrant justice for over 20 years. Silky was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and speaks to No Borders Media via Washington state. This interview looks at how we’ve arrived at the current surreal and nightmarish moment, on the cusp of mass deportations on a scale never seen before, yet a moment crucially built up by both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past 30 years. While analyzing what has brought us here, this interview also emphasizes potential paths of resistance, rooted in inspiring migrant justice moments and movements of the past few decades. Background: - Preparing for the Worst (October 17, 2024): https://inquest.org/preparing-for-the-worst/ - Trump 2.0 Poses an Even Bigger Threat to Migrants. Here’s How We Fight Back (November 10, 2024): https://truthout.org/articles/trump-2-0-poses-an-even-bigger-threat-to-migrants-heres-how-we-fight-back/ Show Notes: - Interview recorded on December 2, 2024. - An edited version of this show aired on CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal on December 4, 2024. - Show uploaded onto SoundCloud on December 5, 2024. - Music: “Deportees” by Outernational (featuring Tom Morello); cover of “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” by Woody Guthrie & Martin Hoffman. - Accompanying image by Kevin Caplicki (JustSeeds). - Produced by Jaggi Singh for No Borders Media. — No Borders Media is part of the CKUT Community News Collective’s Off The Hour. We’re on air on the first Thursday of every month from 5-6pm. CKUT is at 90.3fm in Montreal, on the far-left of the radio dial, and everywhere in the world via ckut.ca on the web. No Borders Media shares and creates content in support of the struggles of the working class and oppressed peoples, and in opposition to capitalism and colonialism. Check out No Borders Media on SoundCloud and our active social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, Twitter, and Mastodon, for links to upcoming and previous shows. You can also get in touch with us at nobordersmedianetwork@gmail.com