Protesters block buses carrying undocumented immigrants in California

A large group of local residents carrying flags and posters protest a caravan of three buses carrying immigrant families to a facility at the U.S. Border Patrol in Murrieta, Calif. (Photo: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times)



MURRIETA, Calif. -- A crowd of 200 to 300 people in downtown Murrieta surrounded three buses carrying immigrant detainees Tuesday afternoon, causing the buses to turn around before they reached a Border Patrol station in the Riverside County city, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Times reporter said the crowd, waving Americans flags and protest signs, refused to give way when the buses arrived with some 140 detainees from Texas, which has seen a flood of Central American immigrants cross the border in recent weeks without legal permission.



The face-off came one day after Murrieta Mayor Alan Long urged residents to protest the federal government’s decision to move the recent immigrants who had arrived in the country illegally -- and have overwhelmed Texas border facilities -- to the Border Patrol station here.

Blocked by the protesters, the buses instead headed for a Border Patrol facility in Chula Vista in San Diego County, arriving late Tuesday afternoon.