Hundreds protest Trump’s deportations in Riverside

As thousands gathered in downtown L.A. on Sunday to protest the deportation policies of the Trump administration, even blocking the 101 freeway near Placita Olvera, hundreds protested in Riverside. 

On the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Tyler Avenue, a small crowd gathered at 10 a.m. and slowly grew into the hundreds. People of all ages filled all corners of the intersection, holding poster boards, a mix of United States and Mexican Flags and LGBTQ+ flags denouncing the deportations that the Trump administration has enacted since taking office. 

Now that all federal agencies are empowered to deport any undocumented immigrant, not just Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) but also the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service, people have mobilized to protest the deportations. 

“I’m here to speak up for those who can’t. I want immigration reform,” said volunteer Ariana Gonzalez as to why she was part of the protest. “I want ICE to be controlled and not to abuse our rights and above all else, before we’re American, before we’re Mexicans, we’re human beings and we deserve to be treated as such.” 

Gonzalez organized the protest with other women after seeing the deportations take place. 

“When we saw ICE and Border Patrol running roaming our streets, it was actually a collective group of girls that started commenting on a TikTok about it,” Gonzalez said, adding that they were expressing an interest in protests happening in the Inland Empire. “And one of the girls actually created a page, we started a group chat and we brought this together, and we plan on doing more events like this.” 

People found out about the location of the protest a day before via the Instagram account of Semillas Inland Empire. One of the protesters told me she found out on TikTok. 

People protested for several hours, some crossing from one corner to another, and cars honked as they drove by the intersection. 

There were more protests today in Los Angeles and we will update on CALÓ News as we learn of additional protests.