The entire economy is in crisis and people in countries like the Philippines, Nepal, and India that depend on oil imports are being hit hard with rising prices. Our families in our homelands are feeling the crisis every day and most are not able to afford basic necessities. Migrant workers in the U.S. have taken on more work hours, with some working 24-hour live-in caregiving shifts for weeks without a day off.

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At the same time, state attacks on migrant and all workers have heightened, stripping away access to basic services and creating fear of being detained at the workplace, places of worship, schools, or while traveling. Migrant workers across the country are being denied access to assistance to nationals relief programs that are allocated by home governments that are meant to provide legal, medical, and repatriation services for overseas workers. Instead, we are seeing the rise of corrupt right-wing bureaucrats plunder these funds, spend lavishly on travel and luxury items, and enrich themselves while the people are clamoring for change! ​

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To address the current economic crisis, the U.S. is trying to coerce its allies, puppets, and countries it has dominance over to funnel more resources to build their military capacity and war economies. The masses of people in the U.S. and around the world are opposed to these wars, the intensified military presence in our homelands, and are fed up with ICE militarized terror in our communities. As mass movements in the global south are waging decisive campaigns of resistance from the countryside to the urban cities; more and more are being moved to mobilize in solidarity with the people of the world resisting U.S. Imperialism.

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April 28 to May 8 is a Week of Action for migrant workers in the U.S. to unite and make our voices heard. Why?

On May 5-8, 2026, the second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) will be held at the United Nations (UN) in New York City. The IMRF is a state-led forum organized by the UN Network on Migration with the support of the UN General Assembly to discuss and guide governments or UN "member states" in "managing" international migration.​​

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The GCM is an international instrument to guide governments in managing international migration. The GCM contains 23 objectives that outline and discuss the multiple concerns and issues on migration. However, the GCM is an imperialist tool in “managing migration for development” while remaining inutile in confronting and resolving the intensifying attacks on migrants and refugees around the world. The GCM initiative is co-led by El Salvador and Morocco. ​With the rise of the fascist right wing countries known for human rights violations of migrants and horrific detention in world known facilities such as CECOT, this further exposes the ineptitude of this neoliberal system. 

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The Philippines is among the so-called Champion countries. The Philippines is in the top four remittance sending countries alongside Mexico, India, and China. Hans Leo J. Cacdac - the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary, has been leading the charge to position the Philippines as a leader in the IMRF and a "model country" in facilitating migration for economic development. In reality, the Philippines’ Labor Export Policy is a system that relies on tearing families apart from their loved ones and their home country, rather than creating opportunities for them to work at home. The Labor Export Policy is propped up as the "gold standard" for global migration policy through its remittances system, but the reality for a majority of overseas workers is the precarity of forced migration including labor trafficking and migrant deaths.

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Not only is the UN advancing neoliberal policies to maintain dependence and oppression of nations, it also enables US led war. The UN Security Council (UNSC) votes on matters related to war, human rights, peace and security. The permanent members (US, China, France, Russian Federation, UK) have the exclusive right to veto any decision made. The IMRF will be another key lobby opportunity for Marcos to make his case for the Philippines to join as a non-permanent member of the UNSC (competing against Kyrgyzstan), with a vote slated for this June 3. This bid is surely part of the US' Indopacific strategy and war build up in the Asia Pacific to threaten China and will reinforce Marcos' subservience to the US to secure more military aid. Marcos is and will become one of the biggest security threats not just to the Filipino people but the people of the world.

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It is in this vein that we are calling for a Week of Action - to expose the corruption and violence of the U.S. and its collusion with puppet governments by highlighting the realities of the oppressed peoples and migrant workers across the U.S. We​ raise our demands as a united movement fighting to end the crisis and suffering of the people. This Week of Action is an opportunity for our movements to respond to the UN's IMRF and bring the grassroots migrants movement to counter the imperialist forum with our people's demands and solutions!