SAN ANTONIO – South Texas organizations are planning to hold rallies on Saturday amid nationwide immigration protests.
President Donald Trump now has 4,000-plus National Guard Troops deployed to Los Angeles to handle hundreds of protestors. On Monday, he added 700 Marines.
Recommended Videos
“If we didn’t do the job, that place would be burning down,” Trump told reporters Monday, speaking about California. “I feel we had no choice. ... I don’t want to see what happened so many times in this country.”
Protests over immigration raids have been happening in major cities throughout the country, though none have reached the scale of those in Los Angeles.
On Monday, hundreds of people took to the streets in Austin.
Protesters organized near the state Capitol before moving toward the federal building that houses an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
Authorities appeared to use chemical irritants to disperse a crowd, and the city’s police chief said Tuesday that four officers were injured during Monday’s protests, including three who were struck by thrown rocks.
Gov. Greg Abbott said authorities arrested more than a dozen protesters.
“Peaceful protesting is legal,” Abbott posted on X. “But once you cross the line, you will be arrested.”
In Dallas, hundreds of people demonstrated on a city bridge for hours before police determined the rally to be “unlawful.” Police said one person was arrested and that charges were pending.
On Sunday, San Antonio area community members rallied outside San Antonio City Hall in solidarity with the migrants who have been deported from the community in recent weeks.
Similar rallies are planned nationwide on Saturday to coincide with the president’s scheduled military parade in Washington, D.C.
ICE has released the following statement to KSAT:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in a unique position to enforce immigration laws of the United States in the nation’s interior with its broad investigatory authorities and law enforcement capabilities. As part of its routine operations, ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws. All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and if found removable by final order, removed from the U.S., regardless of nationality.
U.S. immigration laws allow aliens to pursue relief from removal; however, once they have exhausted all due process and appeals, the aliens remain subject to a final order of removal from an immigration judge and ICE must carry out that order.
ICE respects the constitutional right of people to peacefully protest; however, assaulting, resisting, impeding or harassing ICE officers and special agents or interfering in any way as they are executing their official duty is against the law. If any person assaults a federal law enforcement officer, they risk being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Read more: