AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Protests over federal immigration enforcement raids and President Donald Trump’s move to mobilize the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles are spreading nationwide and are expected to continue into the weekend.
While many demonstrations against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been peaceful, with marchers chanting slogans and carrying signs, others have led to clashes with police, hundreds of arrests and the use of chemical irritants to disperse crowds. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott posted on social media that an unspecified number of National Guard troops “will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order.”
Activists say they will hold even larger demonstrations in the coming days, with “No Kings” events across the country on Saturday to coincide with Trump’s planned military parade in Washington, D.C.
The Trump administration said immigration raids and deportations will continue regardless.
Immigration raid protests spread
Protests like those in in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement raids have sprung up across the country, with more planned.
Seattle
Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Wednesday evening to a federal building where immigration cases are heard, with some dragging a dumpster nearby and setting it on fire.
The building was covered in graffiti, with “Abolish ICE Now” written in large letters across its front window. Some protesters moved electric bikes and cones to block its entrance.
Dozens of officers squared off with protesters near the federal building, with some shooting pepper spray. Officers worked to move the crowd away from the federal building, with some protesters throwing fireworks and rocks at officers, according to the Seattle Police Department.
Police detained more than 80 people during protests in lower Manhattan’s Foley Square on Tuesday evening and early Wednesday.
Protesters shouted and waved signs that included “ICE out of NYC” as they rallied near an ICE facility and federal courthouses. Police estimated some 2,500 people participated. Some protesters jumped over metal barricades and clashed with officers who wrestled them to the ground. Video shows demonstrators throwing items at law enforcement vehicles.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said most of the demonstrators were peaceful and that just a few caused the disorder that required police intervention.
“We want to maintain everyone’s right to protest peacefully in this city and in this country, but we will not tolerate chaos and disorder or violence,” Tisch said Wednesday morning during an appearance on Fox 5 New York.
Police said they took 86 people into custody, including 52 who were released with criminal court summonses for minor crimes and 34 who were charged with assault, resisting arrest and other crimes.
San Antonio
More than 400 people gathered outside of city hall Wednesday evening for an anti-ICE demonstration, according to local authorities. The protest was largely peaceful, with many blasting music and some handing out water. Nearby streets were closed off as law enforcement officers watched from hundreds of feet away.
Dozens walked there from the historic Alamo mission after police closed off the area before the protest began.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus encouraged peaceful demonstration but said his officers would respond if “it turns violent.”
Officers with the Texas Public Safety Department said the Texas National Guard was present at the protest. Members were not seen standing with law enforcement officers in front of a small crowd of demonstrators.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declined to say how many soldiers would be sent or how, only that they would be deployed in “strategic locations where they can provide the most robust response” necessary. He did not say whether he or the president mobilized them.
“There are others outside of this room who would like to know that. And I’m not going to tell them,” Abbott said. “We want to make sure that what has happened in California does not happen in Texas.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he did not ask the governor to deploy the National Guard troops and officials said they did not know how many troops were being sent, where they would be stationed or what they would do.
“I want to acknowledge the anger and frustration that’s out there with the federal government’s crude interpretations of immigration law and cruel approach to human rights,’ Nirenberg said. ”Exercise your right to free speech, but I urge you to keep it lawful and peaceful.”
Philadelphia
About 150 protesters gathered outside the Federal Detention Center on Tuesday afternoon and marched to ICE headquarters then back to the detention center.
Police ordered a group marching along a major road to disperse and when they ignored the orders officers arrested 15 of them. Several officers used force during the arrests and their conduct will be reviewed, police said, without detailing what kind of force was used. Two officers suffered minor injuries.
San Francisco
About 200 protesters gathered outside the San Francisco Immigration Court on Tuesday after activists said several people were arrested there.
Protests in the city swelled to several thousand demonstrators Sunday and Monday, and more than 150 people were arrested after some vandalized buildings and damaged cars, police vehicles and buses. Police said two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Chicago
Police said 17 people were arrested at a protest that jammed a downtown plaza and took over surrounding streets Tuesday evening.
Some of those arrested were accused of vandalism, and four were charged with felonies including aggravated battery against an officer of the peace.
Also Tuesday, a 66-year-old woman was treated for a fractured arm after being struck by a car. Video showed the vehicle speeding along a road filled with protesters. No other injuries were reported.
Denver
A group of protesters gathered before the Colorado state capitol, creating a sea of cardboard signs, one exhorting: “Show your faces. ICE cowards.” The group then split in half, with hundreds chanting and marching down two thoroughfares and crowding out traffic.
Police ordered them to disperse. Officers used smoke and pepper balls to control the crowd and 17 people were arrested, Denver police said Wednesday.
Spokane
Mayor Lisa Brown imposed a curfew in downtown Spokane, Washington, after a protest Wednesday afternoon outside an ICE office.
Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall said more than 30 protesters were arrested and officers deployed “pepper balls” on the crowd, KREM-TV reported.
Brown said in a news conference Wednesday that the curfew is meant to “protect public safety,” adding that the vast majority of protesters were peaceful.
“We respect their right to peacefully protest and to be upset about federal policies,” she said. “I have been that person who has protested federal policies and that is a right we have.”
The curfew runs from Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. until 5 a.m. Thursday, according to a statement released by the city.
The curfew doesn’t apply to law enforcement, emergency personnel, media, people leaving the soccer game at a local sports facility, residents who live in the area and people traveling for work.
