On a holiday marking the birth of a nation of immigrants , protesters and counterprotesters began a new round of angry demonstrations Friday in a California town that was scheduled to receive new busloads of migrants arrested for entering the country illegally . The small Southern California city of Murrieta , named after a Spaniard whose family set up a sheep ranch there in 1873 , is now a national flashpoint in the U.S. immigration crisis : Protesters are denouncing the federal transfer of detained migrants to their town for processing at a local U.S. Border Patrol office . Demonstrators successfully blockaded busloads from entering the town earlier this week . A second convoy of federal buses carrying migrants to a U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta was expected Friday , and Murrieta resident Jason Woolley joined protesters to express his outrage about illegal border crossings . A surge of undocumented Central American immigrants has created a federal crisis , and some of them are supposed to be processed in Murrieta . `` There 's a right way and a wrong way to come into this country . If you are going to come in the wrong way , we 're not going to stand for it . That 's just how it is , '' Woolley said . `` There ( are ) thousands and millions of other people who 've done it the right way . But for people to just come in here and ask for a free handout , that 's my money . '' Erica Suarez of Long Beach defended the immigrants ' rights to due process -- and noted how the United States was built by immigrants . `` It 's not a us versus we situation . It 's a we . It 's everybody together , '' said Suarez , who described herself as an undocumented student . Police arrested at least one protester Friday morning . No further details were immediately available . Exchange of hard words . The protests have been emotionally charged , with racial slurs uttered against Latinos defending the rights of the arrested immigrants , some of whom may be refugees , the immigration rights advocates say . But on Independence Day , protesters held placards saying , `` It 's not about race . It 's about law . '' Others said , `` No human is illegal , '' and `` No white supremacy . '' Police secured the road so the entry to the Border Patrol office was clear , though a smaller group of protesters found a way to camp on the side of the road . A quarter of a mile away , a yellow police line held back the larger demonstration of dozens of protesters , and by Friday afternoon , police put up a second yellow tape and stood between the two factions of demonstrators to stop their pushing and shoving . Protesters chanted , `` USA ! USA ! '' Counterprotesters chanted , `` La raza unida jamas seran vencida , '' which translates as `` The ( Latino ) race united will never be defeated . '' Apparently supporting them , men and women in Indian costumes trimmed with feathers danced to a drumbeat . Police warned participants not to fight . Some of them suffered heat exposure in the 100-degree sunshine and found relief under a tent . `` We do n't want anyone to get hurt . There 's children here , '' a police officer told protesters . Both sides waved American flags , but one demonstrator held a shredded U.S. flag , angering an adversary who yelled : `` Absolute disgrace ! '' Counterprotester Dara Glanzer did n't mind spending the Fourth of July in a protest that was hot by any standard . `` It 's Independence Day -- for whom and why , '' Glanzer said . `` This is a refugee crisis that we 're dealing with ... . If these people were from say , Ukraine , trying to get here from the violence that ruptured the Ukraine , maybe these people would be for that . '' Murrieta 's concerns and compassion . Residents object to how U.S. agents may `` dump '' the Central American immigrants into their community once their processing is completed , a practice that was true in the past , said Murrieta Mayor Alan Long . Both sides of the protest , he said , seek a legal , efficient process for the overflow of arrested migrants . `` We 're sending people in inhumane conditions and dispersing them across the nation , '' Long said . On Tuesday , the federal government began busing 140 migrants for processing in Murrieta every 72 hours , raising concerns about operational capacity , Long said . The initial federal plan called for 500 people , which was lowered to 300 , but the city strongly opposed those plans . `` The concern we have is the sustainability of 140 every 72 hours , '' Long said . `` We do n't see this stopping any time soon . '' Long said earlier this week that his city `` continues to object to the transfer of illegal immigrants to the local Border Patrol office . '' A subsequent protest in agreement became raucous Tuesday ; a counterprotester was spat upon . Long described portions of that protest as `` unfortunate '' and `` deplorable . '' The city had offered U.S. officials a mobile health clinic to help them provide health screenings and inoculations for the migrants , but the federal approval process would have been too long . `` The world has never been able to see how compassionate our community is because we never got there , '' Long said . The first protest . Federal officials were n't disclosing arrival times Friday for the immigrants or even the cities receiving them , citing safety concerns in light of Tuesday 's protests in Murrieta . The town became a battleground over immigration that day as angry crowds chanted , `` Go back home , '' and forced buses carrying immigrants to turn around . Counterprotesters squared off with demonstrators , leading to a shouting match over the nation 's immigration system . As chaos ensued , federal officials rerouted the 140 undocumented immigrants to U.S. processing centers at least 80 miles away , in the San Diego and El Centro areas . A tide of Central Americans illegally entering the United States has overwhelmed a system already buckling under the weight of the nation 's 11 million undocumented immigrants . Unlike undocumented Mexican migrants , who are often immediately deported , the United States detains and processes Central Americans , who are eventually released and given a month to report to immigration offices . Protests and tension . Many never show up and join the undocumented population , according to the National Border Patrol Council , the union representing Border Patrol agents . The immigrants rejected by Murrieta protesters were initially held in Texas , where U.S. facilities are overflowing , forcing detainees to be sent to other states for processing . The government does n't have the room to shelter the children with adults : There 's only one family immigration detention center , in Pennsylvania . To assist the unaccompanied children , the Obama administration opened shelters last month on three military bases because federal facilities more designed for adults were overrun with minors . Tuesday 's busloads did n't include any unaccompanied minors , said Murrieta Police Chief Sean Hadden . The children on the buses were apparently in the company of relatives or other adults , said an official with the National Border Patrol Council . Immigration rights advocates denounced the protesters . `` It is deplorable that people espousing anti-immigrant hate language created unnecessary tension and fear for immigrant mothers and their children , '' said Pedro Rios , a community representative of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium . `` Even more concerning is that elected officials in the city of Murrieta instigated this tension . Mothers and their children on these buses have suffered through enough trauma . '' Journey from Texas . The U.S. government earlier flew the 140 Central American immigrants from south Texas to San Diego . Federal agents were busing them to Murrieta for processing at the Border Patrol station when the standoff took place Tuesday . After the buses turned around , the immigrants were taken to a U.S. Border Patrol station in San Diego , said Ron Zermeno of the National Border Patrol Council . The United States is struggling to accommodate an influx of undocumented immigrants , particularly a wave of unaccompanied children from El Salvador , Guatemala and Honduras . The U.S. government does n't have enough beds , food or sanitary facilities . Authorities estimate 60,000 to 80,000 children will cross the border without parents this year in what the White House has called an `` immediate humanitarian crisis . ''
Murrieta also calls parts of earlier protest ` ` unfortunate '' and ` ` deplorable '' ` ` " has never been able to understand how compassionate our government is , '' he adds . Residents fear officials would dump migrants in jail , mayor says . Police get between the two factions of demonstrators to start shoving .