LA Deportation Protests Spur Solidarity in Texas

The Los Angeles protests of President Donald Trump’s deportation policies catalyzed mostly peaceful demonstrations in Austin and Dallas on Monday that nonetheless resulted in some arrests.

Hundreds of people gathered near the Texas Capitol in Austin and on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas on Monday as a show of solidarity with the immigrants in their community and the people of Los Angeles who have been demonstrating in the streets since Friday.

Austin’s demonstration remained mostly peaceful, according to the Austin American-Statesman. 

A spokesperson with the Austin chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which organized the protest, told the Statesman that the Austin demonstration was a response to Trump’s decision to federalize the California National Guard to respond to Los Angeles protestors against the wishes of state and local officials.  

Trump on Sunday deployed 2,100 members of the National Guard to the second-largest city in the U.S., even as California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that the activation would inflame demonstrators and escalate tensions. 

Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had deployed state and local law enforcement to respond to protestors over the weekend, and were firm that violence and destruction of property would not be tolerated.

The last president to deploy the National Guard without a request from the state’s leadership was Lyndon Johnson, who in 1965 sent guardsmen to Alabama to protect a civil rights march, according to the AP.

In Austin, beginning at about 7 p.m., several speakers denounced Trump’s policies aiming to deport undocumented immigrants and his pledges to increase the number of sweeps conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The crowd eventually marched toward the J.J. Pickle Federal Building, which houses the local ICE offices. Organizers led the majority of the crowd back toward the Capitol to conclude the event, but dozens remained and began to tag the building with graffiti.

Officers ordered the lingering protestors to move away from the building, and fired tear gas canisters and used pepper spray to disperse them.

The Travis County Jail held a dozen people who were arrested during the protest, including on charges of criminal mischief and resisting arrest, according to the Statesman.

The demonstrations in Dallas also began at about 7 p.m., bringing about 400 people together to chant and hold signs in peaceful protest, according to The Dallas Morning News. 

That peace gave way to scattered clashes with law enforcement later in the evening as the sun began to set. At least one person appeared to have been detained by police and several had been pepper sprayed as reported by the Morning News.

Trump on Monday ordered more California National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles.