Los Angeles On Sunday, thousands of people marched around Southern California in opposition to President Donald Trump’s proposed mass deportations. In downtown Los Angeles, protesters stopped a key freeway for several hours.
Before marching to City Hall, protesters assembled in the morning on Olvera Street in Los Angeles, a historic thoroughfare that stretches back to Spanish and Mexican sovereignty. They held banners with the slogans “Nobody is illegal” and demanded immigration reform.
All lanes of U.S. 101 were blocked by the demonstrators by the afternoon, which resulted in traffic backing up on surface streets and in both directions. Officers from the California Highway Patrol stood in a barrier as the protesters took their seats in lanes. The complete reopening of the freeway took almost five hours, according to CHP Lt. Matt Gutierrez on Sunday night.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department and the CHP, no arrests were reported.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Riverside, a city to the east. According to the Southern California News Group, drivers at a crossroads honked and shouted in support of protesters holding flags.
On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered in the vicinity of San Diego’s convention center.
In Texas, protesters staged two demonstrations against recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in downtown Dallas on Sunday. Between the two rallies, about 1,600 people gathered, Dallas police told The Associated Press.
Speakers voiced their outrage at Trump’s language and his administration’s efforts to increase deportations, while marchers waved Mexican and American flags.
One of the signs that the demonstrators held stated, “Immigrants Make America Great.”