LOS ANGELES (AP) - Thousands of people protested Monday in Los Angeles against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, and a handful of activists in San Francisco tried to block cars from entering and leaving the city’s main federal immigration control building.
Waving American flags and signs reading “love not hate,” the demonstrators used the May Day event usually aimed at promoting worker rights to rail against Trump’s plans to restrict immigration.
Honduran immigrant Selvin Marinez took the day off from his job waxing casino floors to protest, a U.S. flag draped over his shoulders.
“We hope to get to be respected as people, because we are not animals, we are human beings,” said Martinez, who said he has a U.S. work permit but fears immigration agents may still try to deport him.
“It makes you scared, but making our rights known is stronger than the fear,” he said.
Trump’s efforts are opposed by many state and local leaders in heavily Democratic California, which in recent years has adopted immigrant-friendly policies such as issuing driver’s licenses regardless of immigration.
Dozens of Trump supporters staged a nearby counter rally, waving American flags and playing patriotic music on a street corner across from Los Angeles City Hall. The two groups were kept separate by yellow police tape and officers in riot gear.
Patricia Morales, a 50-year-old singer from Ventura, California, said she believes Trump only wants to oust immigrants in the country illegally who commit crimes.
“I support Trump. I believe what he believe in: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said Morales, wearing a Stars and Stripes baseball cap with the slogan, “Make America Strong Again.”
Elsewhere across the state, four protesters in Oakland were arrested for chaining themselves together to block a county administration building entrance to demand an end to what they called collaboration between county law enforcement officers and federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly contested the protesters’ claims, saying the county’s officers must cooperate with federal immigration agents who have federal warrants to execute.
“It’s not our job or our mission to do the federal government’s work,” he said. “We have enough on our hands with violent crime and all these other community issues.”
Later in the day, more than 1,000 people marched in Oakland in a peaceful protest in solidarity with immigrant communities.
Several hundred protested in San Francisco, and a handful staged a sit-down at the vehicle entrance for the immigration agency’s building to try to prevent access. No cars were seen entering or exiting while the protesters sat on the pavement.
Union members typically march globally on May 1 to support workers’ rights. The event in 2006 became a U.S. rallying point for immigrants, with more than 1 million people marching against a proposed immigration enforcement bill.
The demonstrations waned in subsequent years.
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Staff writers Haven Daley and Terry Chea contributed to this report. Bender reported from San Francisco.
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