Marchers protesting planned deportations block major freeway in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of people protesting mass deportations planned by President Donald Trump marched in Southern California on Sunday, including in downtown Los Angeles where demonstrators blocked a major freeway for several hours.

Protesters gathered in the morning on LA's historic Olvera Street, which dates to Spanish and Mexican rule, before marching to City Hall. They called for immigration reform and carried banners with slogans like “Nobody is illegal.”

By the afternoon, marchers had blocked all lanes of U.S. 101, causing traffic to back up in both directions and on surface streets. The demonstrators sat down in lanes, while a cordon of California Highway Patrol officers stood by. It took more than five hours for the freeway to fully reopen, CHP Lt. Matt Gutierrez said Sunday evening.

The CHP and the Los Angeles Police Department said there were no reports of arrests.

To the east, hundreds of people protested in the city of Riverside. Passing motorists honked and yelled out in support of demonstrators waving flags at an intersection, the Southern California News Group reported.

And in San Diego, hundreds rallied near the city's convention center on Sunday.

In Texas, demonstrators gathered in downtown Dallas on Sunday in a pair of protests against recent arrests by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Dallas police told The Associated Press that approximately 1,600 people gathered between the two rallies.

Marchers carried Mexican and American flags and speakers expressed outrage about the rhetoric from Trump and his administration's moves to increase deportations.

Signs held by the protesters included one that read “Immigrants Make America Great.”

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - A sign is painted on the window of a vehicle as demonstrators shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Law enforcement personnel stage in front of a group of demonstrators who shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - A demonstrator holds a Mexican flag while standing on the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Demonstrators shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Demonstrators shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Demonstrators shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Demonstrators shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Demonstrators shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

CORRECTS NAME OF THE FREEWAY - Law enforcement personnel stage in front of a group of demonstrators who shut down the 101 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Law enforcement personnel stage on the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators wave flags during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators wave flags during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators hold signs and shout slogans during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A demonstrator spray paints a wall along the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators gather on an overpass over the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A sign is painted on the window of a vehicle as demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Law enforcement personnel stage in front of a group of demonstrators who shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A demonstrator holds a Mexican flag while standing on the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Demonstrators shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Law enforcement personnel stage in front of a group of demonstrators who shut down the 110 freeway during a protest calling for immigration reform Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

HOUSTON (AP) — Former Uvalde, Texas, schools police Officer Adrian Gonzales was among the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary after a gunman opened fire on students and teachers.

Prosecutors allege that instead of rushing in to confront the shooter, Gonzales failed to take action to protect students. Many families of the 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers who were killed believe that if Gonzales and the nearly 400 officers who responded had confronted the gunman sooner instead of waiting more than an hour, lives might have been saved.

More than 3½ years since the killings, the first criminal trial over the delayed law enforcement response to one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history is set to begin.

It’s a rare case in which a police officer could be convicted for allegedly failing to act to stop a crime and protect lives.

Here’s a look at the charges and the legal issues surrounding the trial.

Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child endangerment for those killed and injured in the May 2022 shooting. The indictment alleges he placed children in “imminent danger” of injury or death by failing to engage, distract or delay the shooter and by not following his active shooter training. The indictment says he did not advance toward the gunfire despite hearing shots and being told where the shooter was located.

Each child endangerment count carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology and questioned why officers from multiple agencies waited so long before confronting and killing the gunman, Salvador Ramos.

Gonzales’ attorney, Nico LaHood, said his client is innocent and public anger over the shooting is being misdirected.

“He was focused on getting children out of that building,” LaHood, said. “He knows where his heart was and what he tried to do for those children.”

Jury selection in Gonzales’ trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 5 in Corpus Christi, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Uvalde. The trial was moved after defense attorneys argued Gonzales could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde.

Gonzales, 52, and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo are the only officers charged. Arredondo was charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment. His trial has not been scheduled, and he is also seeking a change of venue.

Prosecutors have not explained why only Gonzales and Arredondo were charged. Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s “extremely unusual” for an officer to stand trial for not taking an action, said Sandra Guerra Thompson, a University of Houston Law Center professor.

“At the end of the day, you’re talking about convicting someone for failing to act and that’s always a challenge,” Thompson said, “because you have to show that they failed to take reasonable steps.”

Phil Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University who maintains a nationwide database of roughly 25,000 cases of police officers arrested since 2005, said a preliminary search found only two similar prosecutions.

One involved a Florida sheriff’s deputy, Scot Peterson, who was charged after the 2018 Parkland school massacre for allegedly failing to confront the shooter — the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting. He was acquitted by a jury in 2023.

The other was the 2022 conviction of former Baltimore police officer Christopher Nguyen for failing to protect an assault victim. The Maryland Supreme Court overturned that conviction in July, ruling prosecutors had not shown Nguyen had a legal duty to protect the victim.

The justices in Maryland cited a prior U.S. Supreme Court decision on the public duty doctrine, which holds that government officials like police generally owe a duty to the public at large rather than to specific individuals unless a special relationship exists.

Michael Wynne, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor not involved in the case, said securing a conviction will be difficult.

“This is clearly gross negligence. I think it’s going to be difficult to prove some type of criminal malintent,” Wynne said.

But Thompson, the law professor, said prosecutors may nonetheless be well positioned.

“You’re talking about little children who are being slaughtered and a very long delay by a lot of officers,” she said. “I just feel like this is a different situation because of the tremendous harm that was done to so many children.”

Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed.

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

FILE - Flowers are placed around a welcome sign outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022, to honor the victims killed in a shooting at the school. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Velma Lisa Duran, sister of Robb Elementary teacher Irma Garcia, cries as she reflects on the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school shooting during an interview on Dec. 19, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Kin Man Hui)

Velma Lisa Duran, sister of Robb Elementary teacher Irma Garcia, poses with photos of her sister and brother-in-law, Joe Garcia, as she reflects on the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school shooting on Dec. 19, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Kin Man Hui)

FILE - This booking image provided by the Uvalde County, Texas, Sheriff's Office shows Adrian Gonzales, a former police officer for schools in Uvalde, Texas. (Uvalde County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

FILE - Crosses with the names of shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)