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Protesters lined both sides of the Garcés Footbridge — the pedestrian bridge across Congress Street, between Church and Granada — holding signs that read, “The People United Will Never Be Divided,� and its Spanish translation on the bridge’s east side. Some waved U.S flags, both upright and upside-down, traditionally a signal of distress, and were met with continuous beeps of support from drivers on the roads below.

“How could I not come out here to support my community?� said Mayra Loreto, 38, an organizer with Mobilize Tucson. She said she came out in response to the escalation of immigration enforcement in L.A., and to show support for immigrants, Indigenous people and the constitutional rights she says are under threat in the U.S.

“We’re here in solidarity with L.A. We’re out here basically to support the migrants, to say to the people in the U.S., either from Mexico or wherever you’re coming from: This is a safe place and it must remain a safe place for everyone,� said Loreto, whose parents are naturalized citizens from Mexico.

Tuesday’s protest was led by members of various activist groups, including Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Mobilize Tucson, Jewish Voice for Peace, Veterans for Peace and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Large-scale protests broke out last Friday in Los Angeles as ICE arrested more than 40 people in workplace raids, on the heels of the White House’s ballooning arrest quotas for Immigration and Customs Enforcement field offices. ICE offices now face a quota of 3,000 arrests per day — three times the agency’s earlier target.

Critics say the ICE arrests, often followed by rapid deportations, are increasingly violent, arbitrary and rooted in racial profiling. Nearly half of L.A. County’s population is Latino, according to the Census Bureau.

Public displays of resistance have surged since Friday, spreading to dozens of cities nationwide.

Tucson organizer Tanya Nuñez said President Donald Trump has started a “war� against immigrant communities, and is surging funding toward “repressive� policies, instead of jobs, health care and education. Those unpopular actions are driving the resistance by people standing up for human rights, she said.

“We’re not afraid, no matter what tactics are used to silence us. It looks like this movement is just growing bigger and bigger,� she said on the footbridge Tuesday. “People are coming out to defend immigrant families and say, ‘Stop the terror against our communities.’ The way they’re separating families right now — that’s more violent than anything� happening at protests.

“I think my T-shirt says it all,� said Tucson resident Cheryl Cage as she joined the protest, referring to her shirt that read, “Born to Dilly-Dally, Forced to Fight Fascists.�

“I’m so angry. I mean, I’m 70 years old. I don’t want to keep having to fight these same fights, but I will do it,� Cage said, adding that 40 years ago, she was rallying for abortion rights. “You can’t give in one inch.�

Organizer Alex Maldonado of Veterans for Peace estimated about 280 people attended Tuesday’s protest, including dozens lining Congress and Broadway underneath the pedestrian bridge.

Maldonado said he’s been struck by the diversity of the attendees Tuesday and at other recent protests, with participants of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds.

“This movement gives me a lot of hope,� Maldonado said.

Law enforcement has responded aggressively to the L.A. protests, including by shooting “less-lethal� projectiles, including rubber or plastic bullets and tear gas, at protesters and journalists. At least four journalists have been injured, including one who required emergency surgery after he was struck by a plastic bullet, to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Trump has federalized a total of 4,000 National Guard soldiers in California, against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. The Defense Department has also deployed 700 active-duty Marines, who were on standby south of L.A. as of Wednesday, in an escalation critics call potentially illegal, if the military is used for domestic law enforcement. That would violate federal law, unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which he has said he’s considering.

The Trump administration has sought to characterize the L.A. protests as a violent, organized “.� In L.A., two people have been charged with throwing firebombs during the protests, USA Today reported, and Los Angeles police have arrested hundreds since the protests began. The city implemented an 8 p.m. curfew for downtown L.A. on Tuesday.

But participants say the majority of the protests in Los Angeles, and elsewhere, have been peaceful, and that law enforcement has initiated violence. Organizers also point to the surge in warrantless ICE arrests that precipitated the widespread protests.

Handing out water bottles to protesters atop the Garcés Footbridge, Rolande Baker, 73, said she never expected to see U.S. law enforcement “kidnapping� people off the streets, leaving their families no idea how to find them, and sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process.

“This is not the country I was born in. There’s been some pretty ugly times. ... But this is beyond the pale,� Baker said. “The idea that they (ICE) are going into places of work, where people have been working many years — that’s who they’re going after. They’re not going after the criminals.�

In late May White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller urged ICE officials not to worry about focusing on operations that target criminals, advising agents to pick up anyone with immigration violations, Reuters reported. That contradicts the Trump administration’s earlier claims that mass deportations would target “the worst of the worst.�

Activist Arián Chavez, 19, said he grew up in the border town of Douglas and often saw immigration agents aggressively detaining people who had crossed the border. What’s happening in L.A. hits close to home, he said, speaking atop the footbridge where he led protest chants on a megaphone.

“We’re here to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in L.A., where the National Guard and Marines are being sent now to control peaceful protests there,� said Chavez, a member of Tucson’s Party for Socialism and Liberation. “It’s a gross overreach of presidential powers.�

Baker said she fears the Trump administration’s move to federalize California’s National Guard and deploy active-duty soldiers could lead to martial law.

“They’re seeing if this will work. This is a test, and if it works in California, they’re going to go to every other state,� she said, noting her hopes lie with the younger generation that has come out in force to resist.

“This generation said, ‘We’re not doing this — you’re not taking my aunt, my uncle, my father, my mother.’ My hope is with this generation,� she said. “We cannot be quiet.�

Organizers in Tucson were also planning a 4:30 p.m. march on Wednesday, starting from the northeast corner of Valencia and South Country Club Road, and ending at the ICE field office at 6431 S. Country Club Road.

Baker said 1,800 people in Tucson have signed up to participate in Saturday’s “No Kings Day� , starting at Reid Park, part of a national day of action planned for June 14.

“People are not going to allow this. I think even Republicans, at some point, who voted for (Trump) are going to say, Enough is enough. You’re not going to take babies away from their mothers,� she said. “If they were taking the criminals, that would be one thing. That’s not who they’re taking.�