GREEN PARTY OF UTAH CONDEMNS DRACONIAN SENTENCING OF DANIEL “DES” SANCHEZ ESTRADA AND THE PRAIRIELAND DEFENDANTS

The Green Party of Utah (GPUT) strongly condemns the recent federal sentencing (June 23, 2026) of immigrant, tattoo artist, and political activist Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada, alongside his fellow Prairieland defendants. This troubling escalation in the federal prosecution of political dissent—rooted in a demonstration at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Texas—represents a severe threat to basic democratic freedoms and constitutional rights.

Daniel Sanchez Estrada was targeted, trailed by federal agents, and arrested following a minor traffic stop, ultimately facing federal charges for distributing widely available anarchist zines. The federal government’s campaign to map peaceful political expression onto fictitious “domestic terrorism” networks is an explicit attempt to silence critics of immigration enforcement and border militarization.

This prosecution directly undermines the core tenets of a free society. The GPUT stands firmly on our party’s national platform and Four Pillars: Peace, Ecology, Social Justice, and Grassroots Democracy.

GPUT members maintain that the weaponization of the judicial system to criminalize alternative literature and target immigrant communities is a direct assault on Grassroots Democracy and Social Justice. The party asserts that when independent media and political zines are treated as contraband or evidence of terrorism, the state is actively intimidating regular people into silence. Green Party members emphasize that free speech cannot be conditional on whether the government approves of the literature being printed.

By exploiting Des’s immigration status to maximize prosecutorial leverage, federal agencies are setting a dangerous precedent that criminalizes the right to assembly and free speech. This strategy disproportionately targets immigrant, migrant, and refugee organizers who speak out against systemic human rights violations inside detention centers.

In alignment with the foundational Green value of Non-Violence, GPUT members stand opposed to this institutional violence being used to crush peaceful political opposition. Party members point out that Des and the other Prairieland activists chose to bear witness to the cruelty of the immigration system. The GPUT holds that handing down heavy prison sentences for the simple act of sharing ideas and carrying zines is a severe federal overreach that should deeply alarm all people, regardless of political affiliation.

The GPUT previously signed onto the “Free Des” solidarity letter and continues to stand in unwavering alignment with the dozens of legal, civil rights, and grassroots organizations demanding systemic accountability. True safety and justice cannot exist in a society where political speech is criminalized, and where a small, authoritarian minority dictates what ideas are safe to read, share, or possess.

We call for the immediate release of Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada and all political prisoners targeted for their defense of immigrant rights. A threat to political dissent anywhere is an immediate threat to the freedom of us all.

Free Des History and Press Statement, June 23

Prairieland Defendant Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Moving a Box of Antifascist Zines, June 23

Zines Are Not a Crime! Free Des Sanchez, January 12

Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

On March 25 we marked the anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, where 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women, perished due to locked doors and corporate greed. Their sacrifice ignited the modern movement for workplace safety and the right to organize.

Garment workers take to the streets in mourning and solidarity following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, 1911.

As we honor their memory, we see history’s chilling echoes in today’s escalated ICE attacks on our immigrant neighbors. These raids and enforcement actions create a climate of fear that corporations exploit to suppress wages and silence workers.The Green Party of the United States stands in firm solidarity with all workers, regardless of documentation status. We recognize that the same corporate greed that locked those doors in 1911 continues to threaten workers today through the criminalization of immigrant communities and the erosion of essential labor protections.

We believe a healthy and just economy must serve people over profit. We demand:

An end to ICE raids and deportations that tear families apart and leave workers vulnerable.
A living wage and safe workplaces for every worker, regardless of documentation status.
Strengthened unions and the protected right to collective bargaining for all.

The 1911 tragedy was a failure of a system that prioritized profit over human life. The Green Party is dedicated to replacing that system with one rooted in social justice and dignity for all workers.

The Green Party of the United States has unwavering solidarity with workers and vulnerable immigrant communities because we don’t accept money from the billionaires and corporations that fund the two parties of war and Wall Street. It’s supporters like you who make this possible. Please consider a donation or even a becoming a monthly sustainer so that we can keep challenging the duopoly as the party that always puts people and planet over profits.

Let us honor the memory of those lost in 1911 by continuing the fight for a future where every worker is treated with the respect, protection, and dignity they deserve.

In Solidarity,
Green Party of the United States

Green Party of the United States · PO Box 75075, Washington, DC 20013, United States

Happy May Day!

May 1, 2024

Today we celebrate workers all over the world. The Green Party is pro-labor, pro-union and stands for working people. All GPUS staff are union members and all GPUS merchandise is made only by union labor.

Here are a few icons in labor history

(Click on their names to learn more):

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn:

Did you know that Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was the inspiration behind Joe Hill’s Song “Rebel Girl”?

Flynn was “an American labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a visible proponent of women’s rights, birth control, and women’s suffrage. She joined the Communist Party USA in 1936 and late in life, in 1961, became its chairwoman. She died during a visit to the Soviet Union, where she was accorded a state funeral with processions in Red Square attended by over 25,000 people.”

(Above image attiribution: By Public Domain)

Joe Hill:

Hill was ” a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, familiarly called the “Wobblies”). Hill rose in the IWW organization and traveled widely, organizing workers under the IWW banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches. He and Harry McClintock were Spellbinders for the IWW and would show up as they did at the Tucker Utah strike on June 14, 1913 (Salt Lake Tribune). His songs frequently appropriated familiar melodies from popular songs and hymns of the time. He coined the phrase “pie in the sky”, which appeared in his song “The Preacher and the Slave”.

As an itinerant worker, Hill moved around the west, hopping freight trains, going from job to job. By the end of 1913, he was working as a laborer at the Silver King Mine in Park City, Utah”.

Utah Phillips:

Utah Phillips was “an American labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller and poet. He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist. He often promoted the Industrial Workers of the World in his music, actions, and words. A graduate of East High School in Salt Lake City, Phillips returned to Salt Lake City, while riding the rails and tramping around the west, where he met Ammon Hennacy from the Catholic Worker Movement. He gave credit to Hennacy for saving him from a life of drifting to one dedicated to using his gifts and talents toward activism and public service.Phillips assisted him in establishing a mission house of hospitality named after the activist Joe Hill. Phillips worked at the Joe Hill House for the next eight years, then ran for the U.S. Senate as a candidate of Utah’s Peace and Freedom Party in 1968. He also ran for president of the United States in 1976 for the Do-Nothing Party.

He adopted the name U. Utah Phillips in keeping with the hobo tradition of adopting a moniker that included an initial and the state of origin.”

Fact: Green Party of Utah member Brendan Phillips is the grandson of Utah Phillips!

Celebrate May Day by joining the Green Party of Utah today!