Demonstrators Gear Up For Presidential Candidate's L.A. Visit With Donald Trump Piñatas
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Even as Donald Trump prepares for his first trip to Southern California since he officially entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination, he's already coming under fire across the state.
In Los Angeles, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles is gearing up for a noisy protest outside the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Brentwood, where Trump will be speaking Friday to a group of Hollywood conservatives.
The demonstration will feature Donald Trump piñatas, which were on display at the office where the protest is being planned.
"We plan to give Donald Trump a welcome here in LA. An unpleasant welcome," Diana Colin, the program director for the CHIRLA Action Fund, said.
"We have piñatas that represent him. We plan to fill them up with trash, right, because that's all that seems to come out of his mouth lately is trash," Colin added.
At issue are Trump's comments about Mexico sending drug dealers, criminals, and rapists to cross the border into the United States illegally.
In Sacramento, a group of nine state lawmakers rallied to support a "Dump Trump" resolution calling on California to divest from Donald Trump and his business enterprises.
"The state of California will not stand for this type of racist rhetoric and racist behavior. Today we stand and call upon the state of California to dump Trump," said State Sen. Isadore Hall III (D-Compton).
In an interview with a national news organization this week, Trump was asked about whether the business backlash to his comments about illegal immigrants is a concern for him.
"This is too important. Yeah, I'm losing some contracts. Who cares?" he said. "People, politically, they're weak and they want to be politically correct."
"It's limited where he can go with that nationally, but even within the Republican party it's limited but significant enough that it propels him to be one of the top two or three candidates and that's the challenge for the Republican party," said Prof. Fernando Guerra of Loyola Marymount University.
Organizers of Friday's protest asked the hotel to cancel the event because of Trump's controversial comments. The hotel refused saying cancellation is not consistent with hotel policy.
