Member Statements on PCR08: Make the Community Defense Working Group aChapter Priority Campaign for 2026
IN FAVOR by Mina/Nat S
Comrades, I encourage everyone to vote FOR Community Defense as a chapter priority.
If you were to be asked, âWhatâs the one thing that is the most important priority for DSA to be doing right now?â I think youâd have a strong case to suggest Community Defense work. ICE and CBP are stealing and disappearing people on a daily basis to be sent to torture camps and blacksites at home and deported to torture camps and worse in other countries. It is hard to reckon with the scale of the abuses and the evils that are happening in the present moment. Everyone in the country feels it; itâs not just us who already consider ourselves socialists. As Americans, we used to ask ourselves, âWhat would we do in Nazi Germany?â I think many people have started to wonder whether that time is now. Hereâs our answer: We will organize daily patrols to chase away the stormtroopers and the jackboots from our communities. We will mobilize hundreds of volunteers. We will expand our operations beyond our traditional base to ensure neighbors in all parts of the metro area are protected. We will be the people who stepped up when every authority abdicated its responsibility to protect our people. This is our priority in this moment. This is why we do all the different kinds of work that we do. Letâs step up to the moment.
IN FAVOR by Caleb W
I encourage everyone to vote YES for Community Defense. My ideal vision of the priority system is that when the chapter realizes a certain line of work is necessary to respond to our current moment, we are able to orient the chapter towards meeting that high-priority need. This is exactly what we would be doing by designating Community Defense for the coming year.
Across DC, we are seeing an organic or âspontaneousâ response to the federal occupation in the form of protests, community patrols, and even uncooperative grand juries. The chapter needs to be a reliable partner, a visible presence, and also a leader in this uprising. The fact that the Community Defense proposal emerged from tenant unions/associations organized with DSA proves that the chapter is an important vehicle for resistance.
AGAINST by Far
Hello, I am writing against this proposal but I want to be abundantly clear I am in favor of doing this work and am fully committed to the importance of it and hope to see it fully supported and hope we can do it in collaboration within a formation of the chapter with more experience and continuity. I speak against this because as a priority campaign this feels entirely duplicative of other campaigns which are already going for priority. Furthermore, the workgroup currently has no leadership structure, has existed for only a couple of weeks, and has not articulated any long-term vision for how it seeks to change the conditions under which community defense is even necessary.
The issue area of community defense is entirely the duplicative with that of Abolition. The previous iteration of this workgroup, a Migrant Justice formation centered around direct action, was active when conditions against migrants were at their worst around 2017 which was an important time to develop this work. However, this sort of reactionary activity only in moments of rupture is not conducive to a long-term effort at addressing the ROOT CAUSES of why people are being repressed. The basis of this workgroup does not speak to any long-term solutions for the repression our migrant neighbors face.
To this end, when the Migrant Justice fizzled out in the rest of the chapter, the work continued only in NOVA, and eventually ended up in the NoVA side of the Abolition workgroup. The comrades in Abolition have continued their work in coalitions where they successfully helped end ICE collaboration in Arlington, and continue to support the coalitions to do the same in other areas around NOVA. This includes community defense and rapid response work throughout NoVA. There is also a Migrant Justice budget line under the Migrant Justice Subcommittee from that earlier iteration of Migrant Justice, that exists under Abolition now which was pointed out in speeches, which I believe has enough budget to more than adequately meet the needs articulated by this proposal and more. I believe that Abolition and the Migrant Justice Subcommittee is the better, more sensible home for this formation and would extend the invitation for more cooperation to those in this workgroup.
Stomp out Slumlords which is also going for priority also seems to be using this workgroup to extend their own campaignâs efforts, and the community defense efforts planned here are only focused on the buildings at which they are organizing tenants in DC. There are no plans to address the Community Defense needs throughout NoVA and Maryland as a result. Overall I am urging strongly that you NOT vote for this Priority Campaign Resolution because the proposal is half-baked and completely duplicative and an inefficient way to best use our limited resources. I am also writing in the spirit of encouraging more collaborative and cooperative energy amongst our formations to best utilize the resources and formations we already have available. I hope we can start to see our work as interdependent and less in an individualistic mindset that seems to be encouraged by the debates at convention.
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IN FAVOR by Julia P
The Community Defense Working Group, which just formed this year, has shown us a perfect example of what it means to meet an urgent political moment. Iâve seen firsthand the difference theyâve already made in peopleâs lives, and with priority resources theyâll be able to scale up the essential work theyâre doing to protect our community and directly fight fascism on the ground. Vote YES to make CDWG a priority campaign for 2026!
IN FAVOR by Rohin G
Dear Comrades,
I am one of the coordinators of the Community Defense Working Group and urge you to vote YES to grant priority campaign status to this vital body of work. We bring the collective strength of the community out into the streets before dawn every morning in any weather to face off directly with the fascist thugs kidnapping our neighbors. Our persistence and strategic discipline have built new layers of community resilience and we are prepared to stay in this fight for the long haul, defending our Black and Brown neighbors and bringing political pressure onto the politicians who enable ICE and the alphabet soup of associated thugs to terrorize our neighbors.
To continue this work effectively and safely, we need a significant commitment of resources. Patrollers need hand warmers, bike lights, helmets, whistles, battery packs, food, rain gear, and other equipment to stay safe while out in the streets in harsh weather conditions. As we scale up the number of patrollers, these equipment costs will only escalate. We will also incur significant printing costs as we print bilingual âKnow Your Rightsâ pamphlets and other safety information, as well as agitational materials supporting the political project of getting the fascist thugs out of our communities. Finally, we are rebuilding our chapterâs direct action capabilities to support our substantial role in the Families Not Feds political action coalition. This incurs consistent printing and meeting space costs as well as significant equipment expenses for loudspeakers, art supplies, and safety equipment. We expect all of these costs to increase as we look forward to more political actions and expanding the footprint of our patrol work into more DC neighborhoods and collaborating with partners in Virginia and Maryland.
In August, when the federal occupation of DC and assault on our neighbors began, Black and Latino tenant and worker leaders reached out directly to Stomp Out Slumlords and labor union organizers they trusted for support because their neighbors, coworkers, and family members were being harassed and kidnapped off the streets. Waiting for permission to act was not an option. We quickly convened a group of DSA organizers to identify gaps in the response to the crisis from the broader rapid response networks and from our chapter, and made a plan to deploy our unique capabilities as DSA to mount a strategic, nimble, and focused defense of our communities.
We started working with our tenants union partners to bring out volunteers and consistently cover the most sensitive locations and times with trained rapid response patrollers on foot and bike. This strategy has proved effective in the neighborhoods we cover as we have been able to successfully identify and support loved ones of those kidnapped by ICE, and we have seen a dropoff in ICE activity in our core patrol area, indicating a meaningful deterrent effect from our work. Beyond patrols, our work also includes targeted mutual aid and community support work in collaboration with SOS tenants unions and other partners to support those directly impacted by ICE kidnappings, such as our recent Cumbia and Karaoke fundraiser, which raised over $6000 for families who have had loved ones taken by ICE. The combination of our patrols and community support work has meaningfully helped impacted neighbors feel safer and better cared for. We know we are tangibly restoring a sense of resilience in the face of the violence our communities are experiencing. Our patrol structure is now a model that other neighborhood groups are seeking to replicate, and we are excited to support an expansion of this work.
Beyond a direct action presence on the ground in defense of our neighbors, we also recognized a direct need to mount a campaign targeting the politicians enabling the violence ICE, other federal agencies, and their MPD collaborators are committing in our neighborhoods. We have committed to rebuilding our chapterâs direct action capabilities and provided our chapterâs resources and muscle to the Families Not Feds campaign demanding an end to MPD collaboration with all federal law enforcement. This campaign has already involved significant direct actions, including one this past weekend targeting Councilmember Brooke Pinto. We need a substantial commitment of resources to effectively scale up this campaign and target more officials, both local and national
In Solidarity,
Rohin
IN FAVOR by Ken B
The Community Defense Working Group came together in the wake of Trumpâs fascist occupation of DC and the deployment of ICE to disappear our friends and neighbors off the streets. In only a short time, it set up daily anti-ICE patrols and laid out a strategy of aggressive direct action to challenge federal power and obstruct the deportation machine in as many ways as possible. Drawing on alliances from the DC budget fight and the Fams Not Feds campaign, Community Defense has done a fantastic job of strengthening ties with coalition partners such as Movimiento Migrantes and positioning DSA as a leader in anti-ICE direct action work and general resistance to the Trump regime.
These priority funds will go to discrete costs that will make our community defense work more effective. We meet at 6:00 AM every day, and as the winter months approach we need supplies like handwarmers, flashlights, bicycle lights, and high-vis vests to keep ourselves warm and safe as we do this critical work. All weather gear we need includes bike helmets, communications equipment like whistles and walkie talkies, as well as protest equipment such as bullhorns, signs and banners, and food and water. So far, the activity of this working group has been largely though not entirely limited to the Columbia Heights/Petworth area, however with priority status we hope to be able to expand our operations to more neighborhoods in DC, as well as Maryland and Virginia. Itâs imperative that we have the resources to bring socialist leadership to community defense work throughout the DMV.
Some may argue that this work belongs under another formation, such as Abolition, due to the connections to that area of work and the tactics employed, and so they should get priority status over this. I would like to push back on this strongly. Simply put, Abolition failed to seize on the moment to do this organizing. Individual members of the working group may be involved in Community Defense, and I have the utmost respect for them and the work they do, but the working group as a whole failed to organize these efforts, and instead a new structure outside of it had to be created to facilitate it. If this work had been happening within Abolition, Community Defense would not have become a separate working group to begin with. I believe that Community Defense is currently engaging in the most important abolitionist praxis there is: directly challenging federal law enforcement in the streets.
For all of these reasons, I urge you to vote to make Community Defense a 2026 priority campaign.
IN FAVOR by Guido V
The boots are on the ground. They are in our communities, on our streets, and abducting our neighbors and comrades. There are many important struggles to be had in the fight for a socialist world but none are more pressing in the immediate moment than the need to build up our defensive capabilities.
The newly formed Community Defense WG in the short time of itâs existence has been able to make vital connections to communities in danger of ICE raids and activists from other coalitions. They have been consistent in sending out people every weekday morning to patrol and monitor federal movements and responding as needed in the evenings. They have successfully prevented ICE from operating as much as they want, made sure those who are abducted are identified and tracked, and organized actions to prevent deportations. They have build a blueprint that we must replicate not just in the district, but in the whole DMV. Most importantly, this is the start of building a network of organizers that can push back against the fascist occupation. Because this is only going to get worse. The forces of capitalism and fascism are only going to escalate. We NEED to build this foundation NOW before it escalates beyond the point where we can respond. Vote yes for this priority campaign.
IN FAVOR by Joe R
Iâm writing a member statement IN FAVOR of making Community Defense a priority campaign in 2026.
Some of my earliest politicization as a leftist was as a refugee and immigrant program intern for The Advocates for Human Rights and as a paralegal working on humanitarian immigration cases during the first Trump administration â incidentally at the law firm across the street from the Third Precinct that was famously burned down during the George Floyd Uprising. During that time, helping my supervising attorneys with cases for refugees and asylum seekers, victims of crimes and trafficking, DACA kids, and their families, and especially with preparation for deportation defense in immigration court, I saw over and over again just how destructive and inhumane the system of surveilling, monitoring, detaining, and deporting migrants can be. Under the second Trump administration, the devastating impacts of ICE are even more egregious and deeply felt than the first time around. Immigrant neighbors in labor and tenant unions have more than understandably turned to their unionsâ leaders and organizers, and the 500+ person mass meeting and subsequent development of a sophisticated patrol system that has measurably reduced arrests is one of the greatest contributions and successes of the chapter in meeting this moment. Sustaining this work, which is engaging tons of members, reaching non-members, bringing different forms of organizing together, and most importantly, protecting our neighbors, is one of the most vital things we can do in the coming year.
IN FAVOR by Sheely E
I strongly encourage my comrades to vote IN FAVOR of making the community defense working group a chapter priority campaign. Iâve been extremely impressed with the street-level organizing folks across the chapter have brought into fruition since the beginning of the federal occupation. This work has brought people together in a time of crisis and provided a critical and clear opportunity for comrades to build socialist power by defending their neighbors. While there are plenty of important campaigns to consider this year, this one is by far one of the most pressing and important priorities for our chapter and region and it deserves the increased resources that would come with this status. Again, I strongly encourage all of my comrades to vote IN FAVOR of making the community defense working group a chapter priority campaign.
IN FAVOR by Catherine R
I encourage comrades to support Community Defense as a priority campaign. The moral urgency is self-evident, but thereâs really no unimportant issue among the proposed priority campaigns, so I want to say why I also see Community Defense as a wise strategic choice for the chapter.
Across the country, previously sympathetic but not yet activated community members are now being mobilized by assaults on their neighbors, and they are looking for places to plug into their defense. I was awed to see video of a thousand people attending a related training in NYC last weekend. When we think about meeting people where they are to bring them into socialist organizingâthis is where so many are right now. MDC DSA should prioritize offering a formation to support and absorb the interest for this aspect of socialist work.
IN FAVOR by Jack S
Hello Comrades, I would emphatically ask that you choose to support making Community Defense one of our chapterâs 5 priority campaigns for 2026. Across the DMV region, we are literally seeing fascists abduct dozens of our neighbors on a daily basis, deny them due process and often medical treatment, and disappear them to US concentration camps or through deportations. Typically, those abducted are the primary and often sole breadwinner for their families, so wives and children are left without any source of income or recourse in their wake.
I firmly believe that the propaganda of the deed of us being on daily, active patrols in our community is by far and away the most persuasive argument we can offer our neighbors that DSA stands unwaveringly against fascist occupation. We need to equip our members to be working as publicly as possible in juxtaposition to the masked agents terrorizing our communities.
I have personally been able to recruit 5 new members to our chapter this year by meeting them through community defense coalition work. Building capacity to fight ICE as the empowered secret police of America is what forced me to finally join DSA this April.
IN FAVOR by Paige D
The Community Defense Working Group is fighting for the city using direct actionâspecifically by developing a robust program of neighborhood patrols and organizing protests, such as our protest at Council member Pintoâs home yesterday morning. We work in close collaboration with local and city-wide groups, and have brought in many community members that are not in DSA.
Our patrols help protect northern Columbia Heights and southern Petworthâan area known to have one of the highest concentrations of Latin immigrants and was targeted by ICE assaults and kidnappings in the beginning of the occupation. We began as a group of organizers that identified a lack of coordination among atomized patrollers and took the initiative to develop a mobilization program of interrupting, recording and activating against immigration arrests. There are many patrol groups in the cityâwhat we do differently is focus on a high-impact area and time, collaborate with local groups (including a tenantâs association), and fill our patrols with much larger numbers of people. Using this strategy has led to a steep reduction of arrests during the morning commute of this neighborhoodâin our patrols, as opposed to others, an arrest will have 6+ witnesses responding rather than just one or two and will have cyclists following the vehicles and announcing their presence to the neighborhood.
Our strategy is to stay nimble and constantly adjust our tactics to keep up with the changing landscape of repression and defiance. We are also in constant conversation with the community by closely collaborating with local groups including patrolling groups in Mt. Pleasant, Shepherd St, Petworth, Grant Circle and Carter-Barron. This happens organicallyâpeople see what weâre doing and want to join forces. Weâve had groups simply join our patrol chats in the morning, and we have also worked in close political collaboration for not just patrols, but actions and fundraisers.
Importantly, people know that we are DSA, and weâve developed a reputation as having patrols that are âserious business.â I have had three different people personally come to me and say theyâre interested in joining DSA because of what weâre doing. This is a program where we are seen as leading an initiative and are gaining popular legitimacy. We want to take this furtherâwe want more patrol shifts, we want to start training other neighborhoods and other cities how to do what we are doing, and we want to expand our direct actions beyond Councilmember Pinto.
IN FAVOR by Tim S
Priority campaigns should, ideally, be focused, timely, and strategic. We have often prioritized work that doesnât fit these categories, for reasons that generally make sense, but in the case of community defense, we have an opportunity to use the priority campaign system for exactly what it was designed for, and I urge you to join me in voting for Community Defense to do that.
This is a campaign that aims at a very specific problem: ICE, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, targeting immigrants in immigrant-dense neighborhoods where DSA has a large and mobilized presence. It tries to disrupt that targeting by patrolling these neighborhoods, with a fairly tight net, every morning starting at 6 AM, and, somewhat improbably, it succeeds. These patrols create meaningful challenges to the terror that ICE et al. inflict on our communities, and they wouldnât be happening without the efforts of this specific group.
To be effective, Community Defense needs a large number of people, and being able to distribute supplies, put on trainings, and otherwise do the kinds of things working groups do takes money and chapter attention. Giving it priority status would do that, and in fact itâs especially relevant for this campaign, since the bar of waking up early to stand in the cold is higher than the bar for participation in most campaigns â lowering it even slightly really helps. If you want to see this work continue and expand (something the organizers would, as I understand it, love to see happen if they can get the requisite person-hours in place!) please join me in voting yes on its priority campaign application.
AGAINST by Keeli M
While I am NOT against the concept of the work happening in community defense - I AM weary of how this work has come together and want to voice my concerns only in a way which I know if there was more time - collaboration and compromise could have been found. Splitting out this work feels like pushing us into a place of scarcity and competition where in reality this work is all interconnected and thereâs resources enough to go around.
Abolition absolutely interacts with this work and there are members that would get involved and help support this and this would 100% be a tactic that we put resources toward. I think part of a priority campaign is knowing what is a PRIORITY on the ground and adapting and Abolition Working Group constantly does this with our projects that take seniority and therefore more resources - Community Defense work is absolutely what the chapter should be focusing on given the state of this region - it just feels like itâs a tactic and project that can and should be housed under Abolition.
if itâs under the umbrella of Abolition and Abolition was a priority then ALL projects/tactics get the monetary and people-power resources at their fingertips. Abolition consistently has numerous projects and tactics going at once and has built the foundation to support them - Community Defense as a concept and tactic could fit nicely here.
In fact numerous key members/sponsors of this application for CD priority are ALSO key leaders in Abolition! That just shows there is hunger in Abolition Working Group to do this type of work.
Community Defense Working Group has sprung up within the last month out of various ideas. I think the work needs to happen, I just think it better falls under the umbrellas of Abolition Working Group and/or the Migrant Justice Subcommittee (which gets support/resourcing from Abolition and more currently).
At bare minimum - CD and MJ should consider merging their membership to help sustainability. I do think even as an active member in the chapter I am confused why these two things are separate.
Abolition Working Group has attempted to reach out to CD to see if it makes sense for a collaboration on both priority status and just work in general but unfortunately has not had a lot of progress. I think there would be progress if there was more time before convention so I donât think itâs bad faith.
The inception meeting of CDWG was actually during one of Abolitions regular biweekly meetings (not on purpose) but it did hinder some of those earlier moments of contact where that collaboration wouldâve happened naturally.
There is precedent for merging of similar work into one campaign and I urge the chapter to think about supporting that happening under the Abolition Working Group umbrella - especially as it would help lend people-powered support across numerous regions.
IN FAVOR by Brandon W
I strongly support making the Community Defense Working Group a chapter priority campaign for 2026. DSAâs work in Columbia Heights/Petworth through patrol pools have been incredibly effective in making a meaningful difference in everyday peopleâs lives, and the effort of CDWG organizers to be able to set up these direct action efforts must continue to be supported & prioritized in 2026. ICE, DHS, and other federal agents will continue to be well-funded next year; it is incumbent upon our chapter to stand up for our immigrant neighbors and prioritize funding CDWG efforts to ensure streamlined communication (through phone chargers, hand warmers, GoPros) and protest efforts. Moreover, funding assistance for coalition members will be vital to demonstrating to our community members that our organizing against the federal occupation will be putting the communityâs needs first. CDWG already has made a significant presence in immigrant defense networks; furthermore, individuals new to organizing have found DSA through CDWG patrol efforts, building a new and incredibly powerful pipeline of committed organizers within our chapter. Voting in favor of this priority campaign demonstrates our commitment to our community members being targeted and surveilled under this administration, and further cements our work in using direct action as a meaningful organizing tool.
AGAINST by Alex Y
I am worried about this being a priority campaign next year for a few reasons aside from the other working groups I would prefer to be priority campaigns. First off, this work is so narrow that I donât think it is enough to warrant being a priority campaign. I did not get a sense of the actual accomplishments the group has had so far from their application and debate around it. Second, I would hope that this group looks to work with or under the Abolition Working Group since there is so much overlap with their work when Abolition is already doing much more than this group. Unless there are any major differences in organizing principles, I see no reason why this should exist as its own working group, especially if it hopes to get the funds that come with being a priority campaign at least in its current form. Third, it should be noted that this work is entirely exclusive to DC at the moment with no consideration being given to expand into Maryland or Virginia. While DC is under federal occupation, ICE roams around and abducts people everywhere. And the most hispanic and at risk communities primarily are outside of DC. I cannot support this work becoming a priority campaign with its current state and application. I would encourage anyone considering making this a priority campaign to either to also vote for Abolition as a priority campaign or to just vote Abolition as a priority campaign instead.