Thousands gather in downtown Los Angeles to protest against Trump’s deportations

On Sunday morning, a massive protest was formed in the heart of downtown Los Angeles in response to President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies.

The protest, which was organized and promoted on all social media platforms, started on Placita Olvera with music and several speeches from organizers. By 11 a.m., it had thousands of demonstrators and was rapidly growing in size. 

Many people were carrying Mexican, Salvadorian and Honduran flags, while others were wearing shirts representing their native country. Protestors also carried signs saying “Keep families together,” “No human is illegal,” and “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” referring to the state’s agricultural workers that were targeted a couple of weeks ago in Kern County, along with many other signs of solidarity messages.

Protestors started to march on Olvera Street and made stops at the Los Angeles Detention Center and Los Angeles City Hall, which became the two meeting points for the protest. While heading to these two locations, not only did demonstrators block traffic at Spring and Temple streets, but also motorists and vehicles who were honking non-stop, while blasting songs like “Chona” by Los Tucanes de Tijuana and “Por Mi México” by Lefty SM and Santa Fe Klan.

The protest continued until the evening, which led demonstrators to start to march into 101 and eventually shut down the freeway. Demonstrators were not only protesting deportations happening in Los Angeles but also in Riverside, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami and many more other locations.

Brenda Galiana was one of the individuals who attended the protest. She told CALÓ News that it was beautiful for her to see the younger generations coming together to support all the Hispanics and Latinos who work hard in this country. “It’s been a lot of emotions: anger, sadness, a mix of it all and I'm just truly happy that we're out here and marching for our people because we deserve to be here,” Galiana said.

Since President Donald Trump's reelection, immigration enforcement operations have intensified in major U.S. cities. On January 26, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it arrested 956 people But an NBC News report found immigration authorities had close to 1,200 arrests that day, and just 613, or nearly 52%, were considered “criminal arrests.”

The rest appeared to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally. Being undocumented is considered a civil offense, not a crime.  

Karen Leon was another protestor who was against the deportations. “They upset me. This is very frustrating. I was just telling my friends that sometimes a lot of people try to turn their face to these political views and just ignore them and honestly, that's really upsetting because it's not; it takes a lot to just educate yourself,” Leon said. “And so I think that's one of the most important things, like just educating yourself about the things that are going on around you and how they affect your community.” She also shared that she was in solidarity with the people who don't have a voice, just like her parents.

The protest was scheduled to end at 1:00 pm but became an all-day celebration. Street vendors were also there, selling fresh orange juice, hot dogs, churros, Nieve de Garrafa, algodón de azúcar and many other items. Some street vendors were sold out quickly as the community was coming together to defend and celebrate hard-working Latinos.

Although Patricia Monroy wasn't marching on the streets, she was in the car with her toddler, chanting and proudly waving the Mexico flag. She told CALÓ News that this deportation situation is very upsetting for her because her mother came to the U.S. to give her and her family a better life. “She's one of the hardest-working people I know. She's being called a criminal and that hurts me. So I came to stand up for her,” Monroy said. “I came to be her voice, and she has a voice and she has rights, and she's just afraid and it breaks my heart, so I came to stand up for my mom.”

Since marchers blocked the U.S. 101 freeway, causing traffic to back up in both directions and streets. It took more than five hours for the freeway to fully reopen and clear all protestors.

On this same day, not only was Los Angeles in protest, but so were Riverside, Oxnard and San Jose. Protests have also been seen on social media starting as early as Friday, making it a nationwide movement.