Protesters gathered in Dallas Monday to express solidarity and for Los Angeles residents and undocumented immigrants who have been subject to stepped up activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in recent days.
The event, which began at 7 p.m. at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on the edge of downtown Dallas, started off peacefully but took a turn when marchers hit the streets and were confronted by Dallas police officers. Shortly before 10 p.m., police announced to the crowd that participants had to leave or face arrest.
The gathering in Dallas resulted from the ongoing situation unfolding in Southern California.
The ICE raids in Los Angeles and a subsequent decision by President Donald Trump to federalize National Guard soldiers over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom ratcheted up tensions in the nation’s second largest city.
An estimated group of up to 400 people gathered at the landmark Dallas bridge to express their unhappiness over the turn of events on the West Coast.
People in the crowd chanted “ICE, ICE, shut it down,” and “unite and fight for immigrant rights,” as they waived signs, including one that said “immigrants built this nation.”
What started out as a mostly peaceful gathering shifted when scattered skirmishes with Dallas police officers occurred as the sun went down.
Around 11 p.m., Dallas officers had corralled a small group of protesters who remained at the site into the nearby park before the demonstrators ultimately dispersed.
It appeared that at least one person was detained during the rally and there were a handful reports of participants being pepper sprayed.
Clarence Ford, senior pastor at The Christian Chapel Temple of Faith in North Dallas, said he was compelled to attend the Monday protest after seeing the violence that resulted in Los Angeles.
As the rally grew tense and Dallas police began to mobilize with shields for better crowd control, Ford said he tried to get a few individuals to back up, when an officer pepper-sprayed him.
“An officer came up, totally out of control, and started pushing and pulled out his baton, his pepper spray,“ Ford said. “I put my hands up (and said) ‘Officer, I’m not a threat.’ And he began to pepper spray.”
Before the confrontations with police, the order of the day at the Dallas rally was showing solidarity with Los Angeles protesters.
Esperanza Tomeo, 44, of Dallas, is one of the leaders of the local D-FW chapter of Brown Berets, a group that advocates for people of Mexican, indigenous and Chicano descent and one of the organizations participating in the Monday rally.
“Everything that has been happening has foregone the due process, they’ve forgone so many laws,” she said. “This istration has absolutely no problem breaking the laws for them [to] point fingers and criminalize people who they say are breaking the laws.”
Originally from California, Tomeo said what has taken place in LA this past week “hits really hard” for her.
“So I’m really happy that Dallas is able to show up and show out, and LA,” she said. “Right now, things are pretty rough.”
Carmen Colato, 32, of Dallas, is a U.S. Army veteran who arrived at the protest in uniform and holding a sign that said, “Obey your conscience, the constitution at least.”
Said Colato: “We need to get our service to to listen to their conscience, because they’re going to be told to do certain things that they should not but we are within our rights to disobey evil orders.”
Colato said she had previously worked at a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay with the belief that if she completed service there she could earn legal immigration status for her mother.
But when Colato returned, she said her mother was denied citizenship.
“Immigrants don’t have it easy,” Colato said, “It doesn’t matter what we do to try to earn our place in this country. We don’t have it easy. We are not accepted. We don’t belong. Even myself in uniform. I don’t belong. I am not the ones that they want to see.”
“Trump has called for the National Guard to be deployed in suppressing the people’s movement for immigrants coming out of LA,” the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of Party for Socialism and Liberation – the organization hosting the rally – said in an Instagram post. “Dallas will not sit by as people are punished for standing against the inhumanity of ICE!”
Protests began in Los Angeles on Friday as a result of ICE raids and mass arrests of undocumented immigrants that have been occurring in the city in recent days.
Two days later, the Trump istration deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the city to help quell the demonstrations, a move applauded by the Texas governor.
“An organized assault has been waged against federal law enforcement officials,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a post on X. “It’s time to put an end to it, and allow fed officials to fully enforce the laws of the United States.”
The decision, however, only heightened the protest’s intensity.
Demonstrations on Sunday escalated to vandalism, damaged property, burglaries and clashes between protestors and law enforcement officers, other outlets reported. Dozens of people were arrested in relation to the protests.
Dallas police said before the local demonstration that they were aware of the demonstration at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and planned to have patrols there even though they said officers “will not interfere with a lawful and peaceful assembly of any individuals or groups expressing their first amendment rights.”
“Our main priority remains the safety of the people who live, work and visit the city of Dallas,” police said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News.
Monday’s rally in Dallas comes just a few days ahead of the “No Kings” protests scheduled on June 14, which is Trump’s birthday. Thousands are expected to gather in various cities nationwide, including Dallas, to protest against Trump and his istration’s policies.
The Dallas demonstration is scheduled for 12 p.m. Saturday at Dallas City Hall.
Reporter Bianca Rodriguez-Mora contributed to this report.