More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered to protest heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity under President Donald Trump’s administration, beginning Feb. 2 in Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Riverside. Feb. 4 marked the nationwide “Day Without Immigrants.”
The demonstration in Los Angeles caused a “major gridlock” by 1 p.m. on Feb. 2, shutting down several surface streets and traffic areas. Spring, Main, Los Angeles and Arcadia streets were closed before the north and southbound 101 Freeway was shut down for hours. According to The Associated Press, it took more than five hours to reopen the freeway. The city issued a citywide tactical alert around 7 p.m., deploying police officers in riot gear, according to the LA Times.
Protesters first moved onto the 101 Freeway, blocking incoming traffic, prompting the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division to advise the use of “alternate routes” and to “expect delays.” Protesters initially gathered at the plaza of Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles before making their way to the steps of City Hall that morning. Locals organized the protest and spread word through social media platforms.
According to the LA Times, protesters draped themselves in Mexican and Salvadorian flags and played a mix of Mexican music during the demonstration. Motorists showed support by honking and sending messages of solidarity to those in attendance.
Officials reported demonstrators left the 101 Freeway by 4 p.m., although some street lanes remained blocked by vehicles and surrounding pedestrians. No arrests were reported at the time.
Since taking office last month, Trump has launched a series of executive orders to end birthright citizenship and declared a “national emergency” at the southern border.
Under the president’s immigration policies, ICE is able to conduct searches in “sensitive areas” like churches, hospitals and schools for potential arrests and deportations.
These heightened deportation initiatives have increased fear of ICE presence in local cities. ICE documents daily arrests on its social media platforms.
Hundreds of people gathered in Riverside to protest immigration policies, holding up signs and waving Mexican flags on the sidewalks of Magnolia Avenue and Tyler Street on Sunday, The OC Register reported.
Riverside protest organizer Yvonne Salcedo created the Instagram page Semillas.Inland Empire to share information on immigrant rights. Salcedo told New University that the event was organized by different women across the Inland Empire, who laminated red cards with rights written on them to distribute at the protest.
“And that’s why one of the main messages is [that] we have to be the voice for those who can’t speak up. Those that can’t speak up because they don’t know English. The ones that are scared, you know. There’s so many people who don’t even know that they have rights,” she told New University.
Salcedo, along with six others, arrived two hours before the event, bringing trash bags, water bottles and surgical masks to keep the area clean. She told New University that one of her main goals was to keep the protest “peaceful.”
A smaller gathering took place outside the federal courthouse in Santa Ana on Monday. According to The Los Angeles Daily News, approximately 150 protesters gathered at Fifth and Ross street in Santa Ana to protest Trump’s immigration initiatives including mass deportations.
The Santa Ana protest was organized by Tonali Un and Carla Valencia where protestors were seen holding up signs that read “Mexicans Aren’t Going Anywhere.” They told The Los Angeles Daily News that they chose the location because it was “near federal courts” where courts and immigration services are located.
Multiple businesses closed in solidarity with protesters. Communities encouraged individuals to not go to school, work or buy groceries to show support and object to the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“I don’t understand how anyone could be okay with having raids in schools, having children scared to see their friends taken away or just the simple fact — what happened to my friend, why didn’t my friend come to school?” Salcedo said. “And it’s because the sad reality is that a lot of people are scared right now.”
Katherine Nava is a News Staff writer. She can be reached at navakl@uci.edu.
Edited by Jaheem Conley.