“No Kings” protests throughout Orange County attracted thousands of people on Saturday, speaking out against President Donald Trump’s leadership and ongoing immigration raids throughout the country.
The nationwide rallies totaled more than 2,700 events across 50 states, with over 7 million attendees, according to the organizers’ website. In Orange County, demonstrations took place in Santa Ana — the flagship event — Orange, La Habra, Laguna Beach and Aliso Viejo, among other cities.
The event in Santa Ana’s Centennial Park, was organized by 50501 OC, Wave and the OC Indivisible Coalition. Noelle Campbell, one of the lead organizers with 50501 OC, spoke to the importance of attending peaceful protests such as these.
“Joy is also a form of resistance and that’s what we need when we’re in tough times like this. We still need to find joy within each other,” Campbell said.
Over a dozen speakers took to the stage facing the park, including State Senator Tom Umberg and his wife Brigadier General Robin Umberg.
“I’m here to enjoy being amongst patriots today,” Robin Umberg said. “I was hungry for it, and it feels great knowing if this is what we see here, now multiply this throughout the country. Even dumb Donald Trump knows how to count, and he doesn’t have the heart and soul of Americans.”
Protesters took to West Edinger Avenue and South Fairview Street, surrounding the park and spreading through the intersection. The event was peaceful with no police interactions.
La Habra’s protest was organized by Amber Gould and Bridget Reynolds at the corner of South Beach Boulevard and Imperial Highway, in response to President Trump’s large-scale deportation initiatives.
Gould and Reynolds organized their largest protest on Saturday, with the overwhelming attendance exceeding their expectations as protesters crowded all four sides of the intersection.
Gould feels that fighting for rights and resisting attacks on democratic freedoms is a civil and moral duty as Americans, urging audiences that they cannot let their voices go to waste.
“We want our country back. We want it standing for freedom for all people, all genders, all ethnicities, everybody needs to be here,” Reynolds said. “This is for the everyday common people like us that want to make sure that we have our freedoms, our healthcare and taking care of our local neighbors and everyone else.”
Buena Park resident Mark Rodden stated that the fear-mongering tactics employed by the Trump administration and used by immigration enforcement agents ignore immigrants’ contributions to America’s foundation and legacy.
“We are a country that’s formed under immigrants,” Rodden said. “We just want a free democracy, we don’t have to worry about going to work and being taken to jail, or kids going to school and being raided when their parents go to pick them up, we don’t need to live in fear, we live for freedom.”
Julie Kraemer, a Placentia resident, remains hopeful about the future of democracy after witnessing an influx of young and future voters in attendance.
“A couple of the protests I’ve been to, I feel like they’re mostly older people. So I’m excited today because I’m seeing some younger people,” Kraemer said. “I really believe we need to get younger people out here defending our democracy.”
Some also expressed a belief that collective solidarity, via protesting or otherwise, sends an amplified and unified message.
“I think one voice isn’t enough, two voices isn’t enough. 10, 20, 30, 100, 5,000 sends a message,” Rodden said. “And what really sends a message is, if you get out there and you vote when it comes to the elections in November.”
The first round of protests back in June, were in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids throughout Santa Ana, which is the only self-designated sanctuary city in Orange County. In response, the city started a $100,000 temporary fund for families impacted.
Santa Ana Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez described how residents have been fearful and unsure of what will happen over the next four years and what this could mean for the future of their families.
“Differences amongst the violence of the state is irreconcilable. There is no compromise with their violence, we must challenge it,” said Hernandez during his speech. “It’s time that our people stand up.”
Santa Ana was the first city in Orange County to join the lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This was initiated and agendized by Hernandez, who was inspired by Los Angeles’ actions.
The lawsuit — soon joined by Irvine, Anaheim and Fullerton — is being filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, along with five individual plaintiffs and four plaintiff organizations.
This lawsuit challenges the handling of deportations, racial discrimination, arrests without warrants and inhumane housing of those detained in Southern California, upholding the constituency of the 4th Amendment of due process.