Hundreds of protesters gathered on Jan. 30 in San Juan Capistrano to oppose federal immigration enforcement practices, with organizers and participants saying the demonstration reflected growing fear and disruption within immigrant communities across South Orange County.<\/p>\n
The protest was organized by Democratic Women of South Orange County, and drew residents across the region, along with dozens of high school students who walked out of class to participate.<\/p>\n
The protest was promoted on Jan 27 by the Laguna Beach Democratic Club on its Facebook.<\/p>\n
Organizers estimated that roughly 150 to 200 students from San Juan Hills High School left their third- and fifth-period classes to join the demonstration.<\/p>\n
San Juan Hills junior Shell Roxanne Torres said she joined the walkout to stand up for classmates and families affected by immigration enforcement. Torres said the issue is personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have family members who are immigrants, and I can\u2019t imagine my life or my family being torn apart and not having them close to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Another San Juan Hills junior, Neida Muniz, said she participated to support her parents and others who are afraid to speak publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a proud daughter of immigrant parents,\u201d Muniz said. \u201cI\u2019m here to speak up for my parents and for those who can\u2019t speak up because of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Juan Hills junior Viridiana Salcido said she walked out alongside classmates to represent her family and culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walked out with about half of the school,\u201d Salcido said. \u201cI\u2019m here speaking for my culture and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers said the protest was intended to show solidarity with immigrant and Hispanic communities they say have been deeply affected by increased enforcement activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, we want the Hispanic community to know that we stand with them, that the Democratic Party stands with them,\u201d said Darcie Harris, the organization\u2019s director of fundraising and a co-chair of the DWSOC Resistance Team. \u201cThe Hispanic community is just part of our culture in all three of the cities that we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris said the demonstration was motivated by concerns over what organizers described as increasingly aggressive and dangerous immigration enforcement practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis mass deportation policy has to stop,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt\u2019s brutal. It\u2019s cruel. And now two people have died. I think it\u2019s up to 38 people who\u2019ve died in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ann Ronan, also a co-chair of the DWSOC Resistance Team, said the effects of immigration enforcement were being felt daily in South Orange County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we hear from people who live in the Hispanic communities is that they\u2019re terrified,\u201d Ronan said. \u201cThey\u2019re afraid to go to work, afraid to go to school, afraid to leave the house to shop for groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ronan said the fear has extended into everyday routines, with some residents avoiding grocery stores, laundromats and other necessities. She also described economic impacts tied to enforcement activity, particularly in construction and landscaping.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne young woman I know, her father lost his job because there were so many raids going through construction sites that the owner scaled back operations,\u201d Harris said. \u201cHe was afraid he was going to lose his employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers said the protest was intentionally scheduled on a weekday afternoon to maximize visibility within the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn San Juan Capistrano, almost 40 percent of the population is Hispanic,\u201d Harris said. \u201cMany people get off work around three or four o\u2019clock, and that intersection is very busy. We wanted to be visible and let people know we\u2019re standing up for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris and Ronan said the protest had been planned months in advance and was not organized in response to recent discussions surrounding surveillance cameras in San Clemente, though they acknowledged the issues were connected in a broader sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t why we planned this protest,\u201d Harris said. \u201cBut it all kind of relates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers emphasized that the demonstration remained peaceful. The group deployed trained safety officers and peace marshals to keep participants on sidewalks and to de-escalate tensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re peaceful. We\u2019re peaceful. We\u2019re peaceful,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThis was our 11th protest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ronan said organizers coordinated in advance with the San Juan Capistrano Police Department and provided headcounts ahead of the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police have been extraordinary to us,\u201d Ronan said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have been more pleased with how they\u2019ve interacted with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris said one of the protest\u2019s goals was to raise awareness among residents who may not closely follow immigration policy or national news.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everybody is as into the news as we are,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen people drive by and see something like this, it can be a wake-up call. People need to know what\u2019s happening in their own community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of protesters gathered on Jan. 30 in San Juan Capistrano to oppose federal immigration enforcement practices, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,80455,10,80457,80458,80456,23704],"class_list":["post-167057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-city-of-laguna-beach","tag-laguna-beach","tag-laguna-beach-news","tag-laguna-beach-women","tag-laguna-news","tag-san-juan-hills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}