As Trump celebrates military, Texans protest president’s aggressive immigration enforcement

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McALLEN — Hundreds of people lined up near this border city’s federal courthouse Saturday, waving American flags and holding signs criticizing President Donald Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It was a loud scene as anti-Trump chants were often drowned out by drivers honking to show support for the protesters’ cause. Protests, marches and rallies are happening across Texas and the country Saturday in condemnation of the Trump administration’s policies, including its aggressive immigration enforcement, and what many participants consider to be authoritarian actions.

Angeline Garza, a 36-year-old elementary school teacher from Mission, said the protest was a way for her to advocate for the undocumented children and the kids of undocumented parents.

“Now more than ever, [deportations] are affecting a lot of people and they are seeing what the Trump administration wanted to do from the beginning, that it was not just about deporting criminals,” she said.

The “No Kings” protests, expected to last throughout the night Saturday, coincide with the Trump administration’s planned military parade in Washington, D.C., which falls on the president’s birthday and the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

But the demonstrations also began hours after two Democratic Minnesota legislators and their spouses were shot at their respective homes Saturday. One of those legislators, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, Mark, were killed.

The Texas Department of Public Safety later Saturday warned Texas lawmakers and legislative staffers of “credible threats” to legislators planning to attend the anti-Trump rally at the state Capitol in Austin. (DPS later announced it had made an arrest in relation to the threats.)

Despite the Department of Public Safety’s warning that they knew of “credible threats” against speakers at an Austin protest, thousands of people gathered on and around Capitol grounds in a playful but at times tense gathering.

The first hour of the protest was capped with a drag performance to a Rage Against the Machine song — encapsulating the protest’s satirical tone. Organizers dressed as circus ringmasters blew bubbles, guided gatherers through a band-accompanied chicken dance and chanted in between speakers’ remarks.

Austin resident Charlotte Lichtenheld, adorned in clown makeup and a frill collar, said the outfit had a twofold purpose: to bring levity in the face of continuous stress caused by the issues she’s concerned about, and to manifest a peaceful conclusion to the protest.

“While some of my friends chose to dress more incognito and have their identities less visible in case things took a bad turn, I chose to do the opposite,” Lichtenheld said. “I wanted to embrace the more lighthearted side of protests and remind people that things don't always have to be so serious, and hopefully don't necessarily get so serious in that sense.”

The fears of threats — and the politically motivated shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers earlier in the day — did not go unaddressed by speakers. State Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, pointed the blame at Trump for allegedly enabling those threats and the attack in Minnesota.

“I'm worried about my colleagues, I'm worried about their families, and I'm pissed off that we have a president whose rhetoric encourages acts of violence against elected officials across this country,” Bucy said during his speech on the Capitol’s steps.

Among the speakers were state and federal elected officials, such as Bucy and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, as well as drag queens and local advocates, all echoing a similar sentiment: Trump’s actions were more aligned with a monarch than with an elected president.

In Midland, more than 100 protesters marched on a city park downtown, lambasting Trump’s forceful immigration policies and the agents who enforce them. At the evening demonstration, which was largely peaceful, a small group of counterprotesters joined the crowd to mock the chants and engage other protesters.

Jorge Pando, a 47-year-old oil field worker and Midland resident, said he joined to protest Trump’s deportation methods, hoping his voice will inspire reform of federal immigration policies.

“I want to change the country for immigrants,” Pando said.

Daina Patton, a 35-year-old Odessa resident, said her fiancé, Ramon, had been detained while fetching tools for his work. The 35-year-old roustabout worker, who had moved to West Texas as a teenager, was undocumented. His work in the oil field, Patton said, kept the family afloat.

Patton, who attended the protest with Ramon’s brother and nephew, said Trump was targeting people who come to the country for work.

“They’re attacking businesses, the working man, the people that actually came over here for opportunity,” Patton said.

A small group of counterprotesters attempted to provoke the pro-immigrant rally in Midland, but their chants were drowned out by the pro-immigrant rally's response, which included the slogan, “We fight with love, we fight with peace.”

In McAllen, very few people in support of the president appeared, though one man waving two large black Trump flags paraded through the crowd. As he walked, about half a dozen people began following him and protesters chanted anti-Trump expletives at him. The man, who declined to give his name, eventually left the protest area without incident.

In Odessa, more than 150 people gathered on the northeast side of the booming oil field city. Families, veterans and oil field workers lined up in front of a main roadway on Saturday, facing a heavily trafficked part of town.

The protesters waved flags from the U.S., Mexico and El Salvador and recited the pledge of allegiance. They decried what they said was Trump’s authoritarian and monarchical approach to the presidency. Protesters told The Texas Tribune that Trump and his Cabinet had abused legal proceedings and due process for immigrants and women.

Suzanne Pack, a 62-year-old retired dietitian, said the Saturday protest was the first time she had ever been part of such a demonstration. She said she decided to attend after seeing the event advertised on social media.

"I believe that the government is not taking seriously the importance of due process, and I also believe that women's rights are being tread upon, especially in Texas," Pack said. "I have a daughter of childbearing age. She's seven months pregnant today, and she's scared to death because of the challenges against fetal maternal health."

Texas’ “No Kings” protests were planned primarily by progressive groups 50501, Women’s March and Indivisible. The national groups are supported by dozens of smaller grassroots organizations and volunteers.

This blitz of demonstrations throughout Texas and country are intentional, said 50501 San Antonio representative Alex Svehla, and highlight the movement’s core message of “executive overreach.”

“It’s a whole wraparound regarding what Trump is doing,” Svehla said.

As planned demonstrations across the U.S. grew in number this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were told to “largely pause” enforcement in the agriculture and hospitality industries, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Earlier this month, Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to protests against immigration enforcement sweeps there. That deployment came without permission from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and frequent political foe of the Republican president.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday he would be deploying over 5,000 Texas National Guard members across the state in anticipation of Saturday’s protests. Roughly 2,500 of those are being diverted from Operation Lone Star border assignments, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

“It does not do any good to have the National Guard not deployed and have a city catch on fire, have crime and chaos break out, and take a day or two to get them there,” Abbott said in a Fox News interview on Thursday.

Abbott has acknowledged in several statements that peaceful protesting is a constitutional right, but that officials “will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles.” Abbott’s comments have drawn criticism from protest organizers, who have said a crucial element of their events is their nonviolent nature.

“I think that we have seen some very irresponsible comments from Greg Abbott, unfortunately, that are in line with his authoritarian tendencies and certainly Trump's, which is of course the very thing that people are protesting about,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director for Women’s March.

In Odessa on Saturday, the demonstrations were largely amicable, with many of the event's organizers communicating with law enforcement officials as the day progressed. The protest’s organizers told the Tribune they had been in touch with local law enforcement officials for weeks before the event. Drivers honked their horns in support, but some of the marchers faced hecklers who shouted vulgarities at them.

Leon Fowler, an 82-year-old Navy reserve and Air Force veteran and retired teacher of history and government, said Trump undermined democracy with his actions in the oval office.

"I believe in following the law," Fowler said. "And what I've seen shows no respect for law and no respect for the Constitution."

Uriel J. García contributed to this report.

Disclosure: New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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