Mexican Flags Have Become Republican Fodder, but Protesters Keep Waving Them

[AStern]

Images of Los Angeles protesters waving Mexican flags have gone viral in conservative circles this week. Many protesters say they are aware of the political reaction but won’t put their flags away.

To many Americans, including those on the left, it might seem a bad strategy to fight deportations of undocumented immigrants by waving the flag of another country.

But protesters said this week that they see the Mexican flag as a symbol of defiance against Mr. Trump’s immigration policies or of solidarity with other Mexican Americans. The flag has become so ubiquitous in recent decades that it is a part of the Southern California landscape, adorning pickup trucks and flapping from bridges. Few mass gatherings occur in the region without a Mexican flag or two, from weekend soccer matches to Los Angeles Dodgers championship parades.

This week, those who kept waving them said that it was important to honor their heritage and not acquiesce to Mr. Trump, even while they recognized the potential political cost. They said that the flag to them was not un-American, that it represented their Chicano roots rather than a national allegiance.

:snip:

Bonnie Garcia, 32, a U.S.-born citizen from Los Angeles, said she had briefly considered stopping to buy an American flag before attending a rally on Monday that denounced the deployment of National Guard troops in the city. But she stuck with her original plan to bring two small flags representing the countries her parents came from, Guatemala and Mexico.

“I’m proud to be American, but in these times, being Californian is what makes me proud, and seeing the diversity here, seeing that a lot of people haven’t forgotten the roots,” she said. “I feel like that’s why Trump fears diversity and fears representation in people’s faces because he doesn’t want people to remember, he wants to erase us, and I’m not going to stand for that.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/us/mexican-flags-have-become-republican-fodder-but-protesters-keep-waving-them.html