Protesters shut down Los Angeles highway in response to illegal immigration deportations.

 

Protesters shut down the 101 freeway. LA Times.

Protesters shut down Highway 101 in Los Angeles in response to recent deportations of illegal immigrants. LA Times. The protesters waved Mexican and El Salvador flags. The protest was peaceful at first but a man doing "donuts" near city hall. The protest was seemingly inspired by that and many of them walked onto the highway and shut it down. Police did not respond to this in any way, despite the closure of the highway and multiple drivers doing burnouts in the streets. 

My Comment:

First a note about the status of the blog. One of my recent posts about illegal immigration was removed by blogger for reasons unknown. They cited "hate speech" which is bizarre since the post didn't have anything even close to that and I am unsure what the issue was. It was the first time any of my posts here have been moderated and I have had this blog for a decade now. Either way, I'm not going to stop posting about illegal immigration and if that means my blog gets deleted, well, at least I still have X, which I have considered moving too anyways. Especially when I have no idea what exactly set them off this time, how could I even consider censoring myself when I don't even know what the issue was? I certainly didn't knowingly post anything against the TOS, so the whole situation is confusing. 

Back on topic though, I don't think these people understand the optics here. If their idea was to convince folks that they were an asset I don't see how blocking a busy highway accomplishes that. Doing so while flying the flag of their home country but not the country that they are living in is even worse. The obvious reaction is that if they like Mexico and El Salvador so much, why don't they go back? 

I have always said that blocking highway traffic is about the most counterproductive style of "protest" I have ever seen. You aren't peaceful when you block a highway, you are injuring people who have done nothing to you and you could even be putting lives at risk. A few people have been killed, either because the protesters got hit by cars or because these kinds of protests block even emergency vehicles. 

And I can't tell you how visceral my reaction is to seeing this kind of protest. It would be one thing if they were protesting the folks that were actually making these decisions, like the trucker protests did in Canada, but they aren't. They are just targeting folks trying to get to and from work, or even workers themselves if you count all the truckers, rideshare and other folks that are in a vehicle for their jobs. 

Another question is why the Los Angeles police just sat there and did nothing. Blocking highways is disorderly conduct at best and certainly justifies breaking up the part of the protests that were blocking the freeway. But the cops did nothing. I guess I shouldn't expect much from the LAPD but still, it's disappointing. 

Either way, I wouldn't be upset if these folks got moved to the front of the deportation line. So far the Trump administration has mostly focused on illegal immigrants that have been convicted or charged with crimes, but the fact that these folks weren't charged shouldn't deter them. These folks are doing a lot more than working a job an American could take or raising the price of rent, they are actively making things worse for everyone that happens to be in LA. 

Finally, I would like to say that we shouldn't just assume that everyone is on board with this. There are a lot of Mexican and Hispanic Americans that agree with Trump's deportation policies. Most of them are either 2nd or 3rd generation descendants of immigrants and legal immigrants themselves. Indeed, one of the biggest "Trump guys" I know is of Mexican descent. It's another reason why I am angry these folks were flying those flags, they don't speak for everyone who came from or lives in that country...