Migrant Anti-Deportation Protests at Los Angeles Spark GOP Push To Criminalize Highway Blockades

As protests against mass deportations continue at Los Angeles and other American cities, Republican members of Congress are growing increasingly irate with crowds forcing the shutdowns of major highways — so much so that one is reintroducing a bill to make the act a federal-level crime.“I will soon reintroduce legislation to make blocking a highway intentionally a federal crime,” a Republican from Georgia, Congressman Mike Collins, said in a post on X in response to reports from KTLA showing video footage of the 101 freeway at Los Angeles being blocked by protesters on Sunday. “First Hamas supporters, now illegals and their enablers, are stopping traffic,” he said. “To make America safe again, we must have law and order.”The piece of legislation to which Mr. Collins referred was originally introduced in February of last year as “the Safe Passage on Interstates Act,” which seeks to “make the intentional obstruction of interstate highways illegal.”“This legislation is critical for the freedom of transportation and safety on our roads. Millions of Americans depend on interstate highways to conduct everyday activities,” he said in a statement released at the time. “By blocking and impeding traffic, protestors risk not only their safety but the safety of others and impede first responders from reaching community emergencies.”Demonstrators gathered en masse near Los Angeles City Hall on Sunday and again Monday night to block traffic into the evening. The protests were mostly peaceful, but dozens of protesters eventually wandered onto the nearby 101 freeway, with hundreds more crowding onto overpass roadways and stopping traffic on the busy highway for hours.The demonstration was in response to Mr. Trump’s recent executive orders limiting legal means for migrants to enter America, strictly enforcing immigration laws along the southern border, and ordering waves of sweeps to deport migrants in the country illegally. It’s estimated that 2 million undocumented immigrants are in California, including those who stayed past their visas or requested asylum.The protests continued at the City of Angels Monday with tensions between demonstrators and law-enforcement appearing to surge after cops issued an unlawful assembly and dispersal order, according to KTLA. Police preemptively closed on-ramps and access roads to the 101 to prevent protesters from clogging up the roadway for a second day.In the early evening hours, an order was issued by the Los Angeles Police Department for demonstrators to disperse. KTLA reports that officers were seen near Union Station as fireworks were set off and bottles were thrown in their direction.

Migrant Anti-Deportation Protests at Los Angeles Spark GOP Push To Criminalize Highway Blockades

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