A Party for Socialism and Liberation chapter, known for its left-wing protests, led a mass uprising in Charlotte this weekend against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Thousands of activists took to the streets of Charlotte on Saturday for an “emergency” march, carrying uniform signage bearing the name of a national socialist organization responsible for fomenting much of the recent anti-ICE unrest across America.
The foreign-funded Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Charlotte chapter organized the citywide resistance in response to U.S. Border Patrol launching a large-scale deportation operation, dubbed Operation Charlotte’s Web, in the so-called “sanctuary city” over the weekend.
During the demonstration, activists at the forefront of the march unfurled a banner displaying the organization’s branding. Protesters were seen waving Mexican flags and chanting “Chinga La Migra,” a Spanish slogan that roughly translates to “F*** ICE.”
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Asha Patel, a PSL leader, told WCNC Charlotte that her group is trying to drive deportation officers out of the city, similar to the anti-ICE pressure campaign seen in Chicago. Patel credited these counter-efforts as the reason why Border Patrol withdrew from Chicago late last week.
“It’s not a coincidence that Border Patrol was forced out of Chicago,” she said. “It was through a mass movement of people demanding that they leave. And so that is what we’re doing here today.”
PSL Charlotte also held an organizing meeting on Sunday afternoon in a rented office space uptown to strategize on how to disperse federal forces from the city.
“Chicago showed us that the people can defeat the deportation machine but only if we fight back and are organized,” a PSL organizer said in an announcement video advertising the strategizing session.
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PSL Charlotte began circulating call-to-action material days before Border Patrol made landfall in North Carolina. A coalition of local and national organizations sponsored the protest, including Blakk Liberation and 50501, one of the organizing forces behind the nationwide “No Kings” movement.
On the heels of their successful turnout over the weekend, PSL operatives are pouncing on the opportunity to recruit new members. PSL Triangle, which covers the cities of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham, will host an informational event on Thursday night at Nuestro Barrio Liberation Cafe, a coffee shop “dedicated to resistance” near North Carolina Central University’s campus, for comrades to learn about how to join the socialist collective.
PSL is a self-described “revolutionary” political party headquartered in San Francisco with well-documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Network Contagion Research Institute, a watchdog organization that tracks geopolitical influence, previously reported on the PSL’s connections to the CCP through its billionaire benefactor, Shanghai-based businessman Neville Roy Singham, a Maoist megadonor known for backing CCP-praising nonprofit organizations and media entities that echo pro-Beijing propaganda.
PSL, a longtime defender of China’s human rights record, has published articles denying the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and hailing CCP Chairman Mao Zedong’s Chinese Revolution as “a historic achievement,” one of the “greatest events…in the history of the working-class struggle.”
With the stated objective of overthrowing America’s capitalist system, PSL calls on its city-specific chapters to stage disruptive protests across the country.
The causes vary depending on the political climate and what polarizing issues PSL can mobilize around. PSL’s members participated in the anti-Israel encampment on Columbia University’s campus. In 2020, PSL was actively involved in the anti-police riots.
That year, several PSL members were charged with rioting, incitement, attempted first-degree kidnapping, and obstructing government operations, among a slew of offenses, for forming a seven-hour blockade outside a police precinct in Aurora, Colorado. According to authorities, the mob blocked doors and adjacent roads. However, all of the charges were dropped after PSL demanded the case’s dismissal.
When the summer riots in Los Angeles erupted, PSL activated followers from all corners of the country to rise up in solidarity, orchestrate parallel protests, and even intimidate ICE agents.
For example, PSL’s Los Angeles branch gathered Angelenos on the steps of City Hall to get “ICE Out of LA,” a rallying phrase that has since been repurposed for cities targeted by federal immigration officials.
PSL’s San Antonio arm explained to the San Antonio Express-News that they believe the more cities that oppose ICE operations through these mass mobilization campaigns, the more difficult a federal crackdown will become.
In June, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, named the PSL in a letter as part of a congressional investigation into the non-governmental organizations that were funding the Los Angeles riots.
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Hawley cited “credible reporting,” suggesting that the PSL provided financial resources or logistical support to individuals engaged in “lawless mob actions.” The senator’s letter, addressed to PSL leadership, noted that knowingly financing unlawful protest activity is considered aiding and abetting criminal conduct.
PSL chapters, such as the ones operating in Milwaukee and the District of Columbia, continue to convene massive “ICE Out” rallies to “Stop the Raids.”
The Washington Examiner contacted PSL Charlotte for comment.