More than 100 people were out in National City on Wednesday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
The demonstration in front of the Panda Express on Highland Avenue between East Plaza Boulevard and East 12th Street was organic, with no one group organizing it. Instead, the call was spread through social media.
Arturo Gonzalez was one of the people who spread the message about the protest. He said he was doing it so that people could make their voices heard.
“I know it’s hard to just watch everything happen online, but you can make a difference by coming out here and using your voice and raising awareness to what is going on. It’s unacceptable,” he said. “So if you feel like there’s nothing you can do, you can. You can come out here and you can use your voice and spread awareness.”
People held handmade signs with messages including, “ICE, get out of our communities,” “Stop dehumanizing immigrants,” and “Your freedom doesn't begin where someone else's ends.”
Israel Rico was part of the “Black Lives Matter” demonstration in 2020 during Donald Trump’s first term, and now he says it’s time to come back and make his voice heard once again.
“People wanting to talk about abolishing ICE, people talking about kids in cages,” he said. “I feel like with ... the deportations that are happening now, I feel like right now our community in California could use that support right now.”
The protest was peaceful, with music blasting and a party-like atmosphere. There was a large police presence, but the National City Police Department said it was there to make sure everyone was safe.
After the crowd grew from around a couple of dozen to more than 100, police closed off eastbound Plaza Boulevard and Highland Avenue between Plaza Boulevard and 12th Street because people started to wander into the street.
The National City protest came hours after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the immigration raids in her city a provocation by the White House and called on Trump to put a stop to them.
In a speech Tuesday night, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the military intervention in Los Angeles an assault on democracy. He said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops was not about quelling protests after following ICE raids, rather, he said, it was part of Trump’s calculated “war” against the foundations of American society.
“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,” Newsom said. “Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”
The speech came the same day the governor asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents. A judge has declined that request but has set a hearing date for Thursday.
“What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment,” Newsom said. “Do not give in to him.”
The Trump administration has been ratcheting up deportations in the past few months, with ICE agents going to churches, schools and courthouses to arrest immigrants.
Also on Wednesday, about a dozen protesters participated in a separate demonstration outside the Federal Courthouse in downtown San Diego to denounce such actions.
Thomas Witkowsky was not one of the protesters, but has been coming to the Edwards J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse with the group Detention Resistance for the past three weeks to document the courthouse arrests.
They said they will be there every weekday until ICE agents stop coming to immigration court.
“It’s been very disheartening to see the dehumanization of these folks who have committed no crimes, pose no threat to the community, and are being punished and detained so that they can meet these arbitrary quotas,” he said.
Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, called Trump’s actions scandalous and a huge overstep of his presidential powers.
“He thinks he’s some sort of king, I don’t know, but he’s way overstepped the boundaries of his job as the president,” he said. “Instead, he’s trying to take the jobs of both being the president, being the Congress, and frankly, trying to be also the judge.”
