The tremors of political unrest that shook Los Angeles and several American cities this week have stirred a range of emotions in people — pride, disgust, fear, hope.
In interviews with voters on Thursday, one sentiment that transcended political affiliation seemed to be uncertainty.
Some of President Trump’s voters said they did not support what they were seeing now: a show of force that exceeds his electoral mandate. Some of those who did not support Mr. Trump were not sure that they liked what they were seeing either. They expressed pride in the throngs of demonstrators marching peacefully against deportation policies that they see as cruel and indecent. But at the same time, those voters said the violent incidents that have accompanied some of the protests were counterproductive and shameful.
— Jeremy W. Peters
‘I’m proud of L.A.’
Annabelle Collins, 36, Mercedes, Texas
During the presidential campaign last year, Annabelle Collins was torn.
In her day job, she helps families at a school district program for migrants, who often move seasonally for agriculture jobs. Many of those families have become fearful of the Trump administration’s raids, and she saw how they were still traumatized from what they suffered in their home countries. Recently, she helped organize a free clothing drive for children at a department store, but many people were afraid to come out.
At the same time, though, her husband is a border parol agent, and his stories have led her to believe that illegal border crossings need to be tamped down.
She ended up voting for Kamala Harris, she said.
When Mr. Trump was elected, she thought his administration would target only unauthorized immigrants with criminal backgrounds, but now, she said, she believes that ICE is focusing on Latinos more generally.
“I’m proud of L.A.,” she said of the protests.
Ms. Collins said she doesn’t like to see violence at the demonstrations. “But sometimes it’s like, is that what we need to make a statement or to have people listen?” she said. “I don’t know, and I do struggle with that. There is a lot of passion behind these protests, because people are tired. I would love for it to be peaceful and to make an impact, but will it?”
— Christina Morales
‘If you are here illegally, the government has the right to go after you.’
Edward Padron, 67, Brownsville, Texas,
Edward Padron, a locksmith who left the Democratic Party as a young man, said the images of ICE agents arresting immigrants at workplaces may appear “harsh.” But he said the arrests are the right thing to do to protect the nation’s legal system.
“They are enforcing the law,” Mr. Padron said. “The laws have always been there — that if you are here illegally, the government has the right to go after you.”
While he agrees with enforcing immigration laws, he said the government should have a program to replace workers in key industries, like construction and farming, who are being deported. He would like to see something like the Bracero Program, a World War II-era agreement that allowed Mexican citizens to work on American farms and in related jobs for a fixed period of time.
“Somebody has to do those jobs, and Americans don’t want them,” he said.
— Edgar Sandoval
To protest ‘is our right.’
Clifford Eugene, 74, Lacombe, La.
As Clifford Eugene watched protests ballooning in Los Angeles this week, he was reminded of the demonstrations and sit-ins he witnessed as a middle-school student in New Orleans during the Civil Rights Movement.
To Mr. Eugene, a retired bank examiner for the Treasury Department, protests in various cities are part of an enduring tradition of civil disobedience in response to social injustices. “It is our most immediate way of disagreeing with government policy,” he said. “It is our right.”
He said he thought Mr. Trump’s use of the military to quell demonstrations was “overkill,” intended to generate publicity, score points with his base, and distract attention from his feud with Elon Musk and the domestic policy bill.
The military parade in Washington on Saturday — celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary and held on Mr. Trump’s 79th birthday — bothered him the most, he said. Mr. Eugene, who served for 12 years in the U.S. Navy, said the president had a long history of disparaging service members and veterans, and should not be allowed to use them as props.
“This feels like a tactic used by dictators in Russia or North Korea,” he said.
— Audra D. S. Burch
‘How did you not see this coming?’
Brian Kozlowski, 40, Orlando, Fla.
Brian D. Kozlowski, a lawyer who supports Mr. Trump, said on Thursday that the president responded appropriately to the protests in Los Angeles.
“It was necessary, given the riots,” he said.
“If you’re the governor of a state and you’re not cooperating with the law and federal agents, who are then getting attacked by citizens of the state,” he said, “then at that point, the federal government has every right to step in.”
“I don’t know what world you live in where you think you can attack a law enforcement officer,” he added.
The demonstrations in Los Angeles were generally peaceful, but there were pockets of violence, including protesters who kicked and threw objects at law enforcement vehicles, and officers have used tear gas.
Mr. Kozlowski said it appeared to him that Gov. Gavin Newsom of California was playing politics with the protests, allowing them to continue without requesting help from the National Guard so that he could cast himself as a foil to Mr. Trump.
“It certainly seems like there’s a lot of politically motivated decision-making taking place — or lack of decision-making,” he said.
Mr. Kozlowski said Americans should not be surprised that the Trump administration was following through on aggressive immigration enforcement, since Mr. Trump promised during the election campaign to do so.
“How did you not see this coming?” he asked.
— Patricia Mazzei
‘There’s always fear that comes with going to a protest.’
Thien Doan, 36, Orange, Calif.
Thien Doan was born in the United States to parents who were refugees from Vietnam. He grew up surrounded by immigrants, some documented, some not. He’s worked with them in restaurants and attended their children’s quinceañeras.
“Most of these people are not violent criminals,” he said. “They’ve welcomed me into their homes.”
After a number of immigration raids in Southern California last week, Mr. Doan, a software engineer, felt the need to speak out. He headed to a protest on Sunday in Santa Ana, Calif.
Unauthorized immigrants “need people there that understand,” he said, “and are willing to put themselves in front of harm’s way to protect them.”
Mr. Doan, who voted for Kamala Harris last year, said he expected to continue to demonstrate against the federal crackdown as long as the immigration raids and deportations continue. But it would not be without some sense of trepidation.
“There’s always fear that comes with going to a protest,” said Mr. Doan, who has attended other protests before. “You don’t know if you’re going to get injured, get arrested or whatever.
“But I feel like, at the same time, if I don’t stand up now, I might regret it later down the line. And I don’t want to be that person that regrets not trying to help the people around me.”
— Laurel Rosenhall
‘I saw a lot of flags being run down the street by different countries. That was disturbing to me.’
Naomi Villalba, 75, Dallas
As a Mexican American woman who received U.S. citizenship as a teenager, Naomi Villalba’s views on immigration have always been clear: She believes that people need to come into the country legally, and if they are undocumented, to work on getting their papers.
Ms. Villalba likes Mr. Trump’s policies on immigration, and believes that all demonstrations would be more effective if they were peaceful.
“I did see that there was chaos in that city,” she said, speaking of Los Angeles, “and I saw a lot of flags being run down the street by different countries. That was disturbing to me because they came in very ready to fight.”
She said she was worried that the protests were beginning to emulate those in 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, which in some cases devolved into destructive riots.
Ms. Villalba, who retired from a career at Southwest Airlines and now works part-time as a substitute teacher, thought that Mr. Trump’s decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles reflected lessons that the administration learned from 2020.
“I think it’s quelling it somewhat” she said of the violence, “and I’m hoping that we will not be talking about this in another week or so.”
— Christina Morales
‘I thought we had gotten past a lot of our bigotry.’
Erwin McKone, 55, of Flint, Mich.
Erwin McKone, who works in sales for an agribusiness company, describes himself as a centrist voter. He supported Mr. Trump last November mainly because he wanted tighter border controls. He had hoped federal agents would focus on deporting people who “are up to no good.”
But Mr. McKone has been dismayed by the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, which he called “indiscriminate” and “cruel.”
And Mr. McKone said he thought the president deployed National Guard troops and Marines to handle protests in Los Angeles “just because people want to walk the streets and question policies.”
Mr. McKone wants the president to increase the number of visas issued to temporary workers so they fill jobs that have historically drawn people to immigrate illegally.
“We have played a role in this,” Mr. McKone said, adding that in the past, he had employed unauthorized immigrants. “We’ve allowed illegals in to work in our country for years.”
“The way he’s doing things is appealing to the racist side of America,” he said. “I thought we had gotten past a lot of our bigotry and our racist tendencies.”
— Ernesto Londoño
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