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Tear gas was fired into a crowd of protesters in Las Vegas. At least eight people in Seattle were arrested as a protest was declared illegal. Police detained 10 people in another day of protest in New York.
These are just some of the coast-to-coast rallies on Wednesday in the growing movement to oppose the U.S. government’s immigration policies as ICE agents continue to carry out raids on suspected undocumented migrants across the country.
Protests also broke out in Los Angeles, the epicenter of the country’s attention, after unrest and curfews followed ICE raids in the city on Friday. More than 200 people have been arrested in Los Angeles this week, police said.
Major rallies are also expected nationwide on Saturday to coincide with President Donald Trump’s military parade.
Las Vegas
Many of the hundreds who attended the Las Vegas rally carried Mexican flags, some waved the Stars and Stripes, and others featured flags from Central and South America.
In what appeared to be a tense standoff, police told protesters to move back while one video showed a long line of police firing what appeared to be tear gas. Las Vegas Police said it declared the protest an “unlawful assembly.”
One video showed protesters surrounding the Lloyd D. George courthouse and chanting, “If we don’t get it, shut it down.”
Washington State
A state of emergency was declared, and a curfew was imposed on Wednesday in Spokane, Washington, from 9.30 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time by Mayor Lisa Brown, as footage posted to X showed police officers detaining people and tying their hands with zip-ties.
At least 30 people were arrested, according to local broadcaster KREM, and video showed tear gas being fired there too as people protested outside an ICE field office.
In Seattle, at least eight people were arrested. Police said officers were peppered with fireworks, rocks and pieces of cement, while firefighters extinguished a dumpster fire.
California
Videos and photographs of high-profile ICE raids on Wednesday showed people clashing with, running from, and being arrested by immigration agents in California.
In Los Angeles’ historic Mexican neighborhood of Boyle Heights, two vehicles pinned a passenger car at an intersection in what the Department of Homeland Security called “a targeted arrest of a violent rioter” who had allegedly punched an immigration officer.
In Downey, another predominantly Latino city southeast of Los Angeles, officials from Downey Memorial Christian Church and others confronted a group of five armed men in plainclothes and tactical gear who “swarmed” a man sitting under a tree in the church’s parking lot, according to church pastor Al Lopez.
“When we said, ‘We don’t want this on our property,’ this gentleman just shouted again: ‘The whole country is our property,” Lopez, a pastor at Downey Memorial, told reporters.
His wife and senior pastor Tanya Lopez recalled telling the men — whom she said identified themselves only as “police” — they weren’t welcome on church property, and getting closer, at which point “They did point their rifle at me, and they said, ‘You need to get back.’”
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News Wednesday night defended federal actions to deport suspected “criminals” and described the protests in L.A. as “pure anarchy.”
“What the brave men and women of ICE, the brave men and women of the Department of Justice, all our federal partners, and the brave men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department, I have to think that all we’re trying to do is our law enforcement mission, and we have to deal with this,” he said.
Legal fight over use of troops
In California, Trump has deployed thousands of troops, including 700 active-duty Marines, to Los Angeles to quell protests. The move has raised fears that Marines have not been properly trained for interacting with civilians.
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice formally responded to California’s lawsuit seeking to block the military from involving itself in immigration enforcement, calling it a “crass political stunt” that is “endangering American lives.” A court hearing is set for Thursday in San Francisco.
Attorney General Rob Bonta argued in a Tuesday court motion that the Trump administration’s deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement efforts.
“The federalized National Guard and active-duty Marines deployed in Los Angeles will engage in quintessential law enforcement activity in violation of the PCA,” the motion said.
A military official with knowledge of the operation told NBC News that the Marines would not conduct arrests and would only transport and guard ICE agents.
In San Antonio, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott called up National Guard members to help keep demonstrations peaceful. “Texas is a law-and-order state, and we will use every tool that we can to ensure order across our state,” he said Wednesday.
The city’s outgoing mayor, Democrat Ron Nirenberg, said the governor wasn’t asked to send in the guard and didn’t give city leaders advanced notice. Nirenberg urged peaceful protest and expressed confidence that the city “knows how to do this right.”
Demonstrations in San Antonio remained peaceful Wednesday night. Some National Guard members sent to keep the peace were seen playing the popular card game “Uno” at a table.
