War Report: Resistance to U.S. Attacks on Migrants
by Lalo Cuitzeo
Trump’s war against immigrants and solidarity organizers has increased in repression and violence, while communities live in uncertainty and rebellion. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was gunned down in a hail of gunfire, killed in cold blood by ICE agents. His murder follows the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, two community defenders active in the nationwide struggle against fascism. On June 16, 2026, The U.S. Justice Department filed charges against 15 Minneapolis people, accusing them of a “conspiracy” to “impede” U.S. immigration officers during the Operation Metro Surge ICE and Border Patrol winter siege of Minnesota. Eight pro-immigrant activists in Alvarado, Texas received prison sentences ranging from 30-100 years for attending a late-night demonstration with fireworks to show support for immigrants held captive at the Prairieland Detention Center.
On July 7, 2026, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — from Tlatlaya, Mexico — was on the way to his construction job in Houston, Texas, with three co-workers including his brother, Victor Salgado, when two unmarked SUV’s approached his work van. The passengers in Lorenzo’s van have written statements that Lorenzo had pulled over and stopped the van when ICE agents opened fire, shooting Lorenzo through the passenger side window into his abdomen. This contradicts ICE’s false statements that Lorenzo was somehow trying to crash into them with his vehicle. According to the passengers, an agent violently pulled Lorenzo out of the van after shooting him. The agent then handcuffed Lorenzo’s wrists and ankles before agents did the same to the three other men. Lorenzo yelled out “Ya me mataron,” which translates to “they killed me,” as his final words. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo died shortly after, leaving behind his community and family, including a wife and three kids.
Political Lines and Militant Styles
by Carl Eugene Stroud
Lacey, Tumwater, and Olympia are cities of thousands, not millions. We’re not one of those places with masses of tourists and arena-sized events rolling into town every weekend. We don’t have a steady flow of random, new things. So, like any other small town, we’re susceptible to getting stuck doing the same things we’ve always done, not out of habit or tradition, but because there’s not necessarily a lot of other options. The local culture in these kinds of places has to be intentionally nourished and maintained.
In Thurston County, this is currently happening, at least politically. We have an active political culture, which, in addition to welcoming diverse positions, functions as an amplifier for politics as they reverberate back out of town, louder and sharper than when they first arrived. Sustaining this culture should be a community-wide objective and comes down to two important factors: clear political lines and committed militancy, neither of which is guaranteed.
Pluralism is a prerequisite for this kind of culture since that’s what creates the opportunities for collective action to be debated. It’s important that the enduring social spaces in town are never subsumed into any one camp and that multiple political organizations can compete for influence. But defending pluralism in shared spaces isn’t the same as taking a neutral position. Political ambiguity like that ends up denying smaller places a role in national and international debates because it confines their influence to the local population.
Closures and Layoffs Loom if Timberland Regional Library Ballot Measure Fails
By Kylie McQuarrie
In August 2024, with little publicity, Timberland Regional Library (TRL) announced that its Naselle branch was to become fully “staffless” and transition to an only self service library.
In a Facebook post, TRL explained that Naselle was “moving to a fully self-service model.” To continue receiving the library services their tax dollars paid for, Naselle residents would need to show proof of residency to apply for an electronic Expanded Access Hours (EAH) fob. They could then access the building from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., checking out books themselves.
Following the announcement, the surrounding community’s response was swift and unanimously severe. Some expressed disgust at their tax money being wasted on surveillance tech and superficial building updates as part of a plan to effectively eliminate service in Naselle.
TRL’s base union unit, AFSCME Local 3758, submitted an open letter to the board of trustees expressing similarly strong opposition. The union wrote, “Without library workers, Naselle can no longer be called a library.” They emphasized that in a rural library district, the library “[provided] a lifeline to places without many other services. Taking away library workers is devastating in those places.”
For more stories from September and previous months go to our website, www.olywip.org.
This month we have a big announcement. On September 9, we are relaunching our print newspaper. Join us from 6pm to 9pm at The Brotherhood Lounge to celebrate the paper, meet the WIP team, and get a free newspaper. WIP ran a print paper from 1990 until 2023, when it switched to being exclusively online. We see a growing need for independent media and a strong desire for it to be print. We spend so much time on screens, we want to provide a way to engage with your community without opening another application. We are excited to be back in action, and we are excited to see you at The Brotherhood!