L.A. immigration raid protests: Full coverage of protests, parades, arrests

“Fighting for those who can’t fight:” Protesters side with migrants in downtown L.A.

As thousands of people flocked to downtown L.A. to protest President Trump, many marchers said they were inspired to come out on behalf of immigrants.

“We’re fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves, the undocumented people of color, all those who put their heart and soul into making this city — this country — what it is,” said Barbara Guterac, 56.

L.A.’s “No Kings” protest , which seeks to challenge President Trump’s executive overreach, was planned before the immigration raids that gripped Los Angeles over the last week.

While immigration was a major theme at Saturday’s march, protest signs targeted a wide range of issues, including abortion and LGBTQ rights. Other signs compared Trump to a dictator.

Guterac, who lives in Orange County, said she knew of many people who wanted to come to Saturday’s march, but were instead hiding at home, terrified of getting detained by immigration agents.

“They don’t know if they’re gonna be snatched up on the street, snatched up at a traffic light, or at work,” she said.

She said she’d encouraged the undocumented people in her life to stay home from Saturday’s event. She even told her brother, a U.S. citizen, to stay home because she worried his tattoos could make him a target.

Veronica Guzman, 63, said she had come out for the children of undocumented immigrants.

“They have to go to school, fearing their parents cannot go to work,” she said. “Are they going to have a roof over their head? Are they going to have food on their table? What child can concentrate at school?”

She said she knew people who had voted for Donald Trump.

Now, she said, some were out with her at Saturday’s protest.

Anji Gaspar-Milanovic, 51, the child of immigrants, said she’d been disgusted at how the recent immigration raids had been carried out.

“It breaks your heart,” said Gaspar-Milanovic, who said she’d watched footage circulating yesterday of a U.S. citizen interrogated by agents. The man, who is Latino, said agents took his ID. “The way this is being carried out is inhumane and cruel.”