Glendale Arizona Police Cruiser Stolen During Immigration Policy Protest

By Sondra Hernandez

Source Houston Chronicle

Over the weekend, protests took place across the country in response to an immigration crackdown and deportation policies planned by President Donald Trump.

In Los Angeles on Sunday, protestors caused a gridlock in the downtown area while carrying signs and waving Mexican flags. Other protests were held in Arizona, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia and in Dallas, Houston and Conroe. Five people were arrested at the protest event in Conroe Saturday.

Here is why people are protesting and where protests happened over the weekend.

Why are people protesting?

According to NBC News, after taking office Jan. 20, Trump has promoted immigration operations in cities like Chicago and New York, where agents across federal agencies were called in to increase the number of arrests.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has begun listing the number of arrests and detainers lodged on its Facebook page. On Saturday, there were 864 arrests and 621 detainers lodged according to information on the page.

The most intense protests have occurred in California and Texas along the border and near halls of government, with demonstrations of civil disobedience, according to a Sunday night Newsweek article.

Protests in Los Angeles

According to the Associated Press, thousands of people marched in Southern California on Sunday, including in downtown Los Angeles where demonstrators blocked a major freeway for several hours.

Protesters gathered in the morning on LA's historic Olvera Street, which dates to Spanish and Mexican rule, before marching to City Hall.

By the afternoon, marchers had blocked all lanes of U.S. 101, causing traffic to back up in both directions and on surface streets. The demonstrators sat down in lanes, while a cordon of California Highway Patrol officers stood by. It took more than five hours for the freeway to fully reopen, CHP Lt. Matt Gutierrez said Sunday evening.

Protests in Arizona

Glendale, Arizona, police say a patrol vehicle was stolen and driven a short distance during a demonstration Sunday night, according to an Arizona ABC affiliate. The incident happened during a protest against immigration policies near 67th Avenue and Camelback Road. Police say the vehicle was stolen by one of the attendees and driven a short distance before it was recovered. A protest also took place in Tucson Sunday.

Protests in North Carolina

Carrying flags representing several Latin American countries, hundreds of people took to the streets of Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina in protest Saturday, according to local news affiliate WCNC. The station reported it was a peaceful event and no police intervention was needed.

Houston-area protests

Five people, one of them a 14-year-old boy, were arrested Saturday during a protest in downtown Conroe — a situation the city's mayor appears to have erroneously blamed on Houston residents.

Many at the protest held signs supporting immigrants' rights and protested the Trump administration's new immigration policies.

Mike Holley, Montgomery County's first assistant district attorney, told the Chronicle Sunday four people were arrested in connection with Saturday's protests. However, jail records reviewed Sunday morning showed all of those arrested, according to the DA's office, were from Conroe or Cleveland.

A protest also took place in Houston's Ervan Chew Park Sunday. Also, hundreds gathered at Dallas City Hall Sunday afternoon in two protests to rally against arrests and raids by ICE, according to Newsweek.

What happens next

In information from Newsweek, ICE raids and deportations are expected to continue under Trump's administration as immigrant communities, local governments and advocacy groups brace for the impact of the president's crackdown. Protests across the country are also expected to continue.

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