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Immigrants, supporters march to California Capitol in protest of Trump administration's deportation arrests
A group of North Bay immigrants and their supporters began a march this weekend from Vacaville to the California State Capitol to add their voices to a growing wave of defiance toward the Trump administration's deportation arrests.
"It shows that the movement continues to grow because, despite Trump's failed attempts to try to scare the community, we're out here. We're taking to the streets," said Danny Selaya, an activist from Oakland.
They embarked on the journey on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon, they were walking along the rural roads near UC Davis. In all, about 350 people will have joined the march at various times in the roughly 35-mile trek to Sacramento.
"I really disagree with the perception that we have no power," Selaya said. "But here we have folks from all walks of life telling Trump that we won't take his attacks and we are fighting back."
Though it was planned far in advance, the protest march gained new significance as it came during a weekend of clashes in Los Angeles prompted by a large-scale arrest and deportation operation in the city involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies.
Renee Saucedo is a North Bay immigrant rights activist who said many of the people in the march were taking a gamble by even being there.
"What courage they have to do this long walk, to attend peaceful protests, knowing that they could be picked up at any minute," she said. "I think that this walk and the protests that are happening in L.A. and other parts of the country are really a culmination of many months of endurance and suffering."
In Palo Alto, Congressmember Sam Liccardo added his voice to a group of California lawmakers criticizing the president for sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles without a request from the governor.
"Leave urban policing to the experts. We don't need the military involved," he said at a press conference. "This deployment of National Guard troops is a reckless use of the very good and well-intentioned citizens who serve in our National Guard."
Back at the march, Bernice Espinosa saw what was happening as a crisis of the law. The former public defender said she is disturbed by the reports of ICE is arresting people at courthouses as they show up for their immigration hearings.
"This makes no sense. We ask for us to be a country of law and order, and yet when we follow the laws and do all the things that are supposed to be done, there is no due process," Espinoza said. "As an attorney, I swore to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. And that includes the president."
When the marchers reach the state capitol on Monday, they will be speaking to a largely sympathetic audience. But they will be adding their voices to a movement that they hope will reach a tipping point. But it could be a long journey to get there.
"So, I think you're going to have a lot more protests," Saucedo said. "I think people are going to stand up more and more and say, this is not right."
President Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric helped him increase his vote across California when he won re-election last year, even though the Democrats still won the state. But opinion polls also show continuing high levels of support for immigrants in California as well as opposition to his administration's efforts to increase deportations.
