The peaceful protest began shortly after 6 p.m. and soon tripled in size as people congregated in front of a road closure, occupied by at least six members of the California National Guard.

As immigration protests broke out downtown Wednesday night, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown had to strike a balance, not wanting to appear to be assisting or condoning the actions of federal immigration agents while fearful President Donald Trump could use a weak police response to justify the deployment of the national guard,