Communities across the Northwest protest on Trump’s inauguration anniversary

Some held signs at intersections in Beaverton. Students walked out of classes in Bend.

These were some of the ways people across the Pacific Northwest greeted the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

The events were some of the largest coordinated national effort since last year’s “No Kings” rallies.

The “Free America Walkout” is part of a nationwide protest aimed at mobilizing people to stand up against the administration and protect the country from what organizers say is an “escalating fascist threat.”

The protests come just a little more than a week after Oregonians took to the streets to push back on Trump’s increased immigration enforcement. Those protests followed an incident in East Portland where two people were shot and injured by U.S. Border Patrol on Jan. 8.

A rally organized by Indivisible Beaverton began at noon near the Beaverton City Library. Nearly 200 protesters lined Hall Boulevard, carrying signs with messages of resistance.

Among them, Beaverton parent Mike Johnson said he was protesting for several reasons, but called recent immigration enforcement “unacceptable.”

“These guys are masked, armed, just lawless thugs that are storming the communities,” Johnson said.

He said his children in the Beaverton School District have classmates whose families are afraid to leave their houses.

“This is not who we are,” Johnson said.

Central Oregon

Despite freezing fog and temperatures in the 20’s, a group of 50 gathered in downtown Bend to protest the first year of Trump second term. Dorothy Leman, 63, joined the protesters, a crowd that eventually tripled in size.

“Trump and his people are deliberately trying to overturn our Constitution and our systems of checks and balances,” Leman told OPB.

Leman said she’s concerned the Trump administration is demolishing trust with other countries. She points to the steep decline in U.S. spending on foreign aid that ended many life-saving programs abroad.

“That’s one of the many reasons why I’m here and I’m angry,” Leman said. “I want to be faithful to our friends all over the world who we have relied on and who have relied on us.”

A mix of young and old mingled on the central Oregon sidewalk and held signs protesting the president’s policies.

Many specifically called out ICE whose aggressive immigration enforcement tactics have been Trump’s marquee policy, stoking fear in some communities and galvanizing others.

Maya Jaquez, 26, told OPB not everyone in her Mexican-American community is able to speak out against spiking deportations and detentions.

“I have the privilege to be able to speak for those people without fear,” Jaquez said. “I just believe that everyone deserves a chance to have love and safety and a home. I feel like Bend should be a good place for that, and I want to continue to promote a safe space for people.”

Protesters in Bend started singing, “We Shall Overcome” as they marched towards the U.S. Social Security office. A few drivers flipped the bird or jeered at the crowd, but most honked supportively.

Portland

At Northwest Portland’s Couch Park, 15-year-old Ellanora Hubbard said she left school early to protest on behalf of her family members who are immigrants to the U.S.

“If we don’t step out and try to help, nothing’s ever going to change,” Hubbard told OPB. “You can’t just sit around and say, ‘Oh, I hate this,’ because you’re not doing anything to try to help.”

Around 2 p.m., the gathering began to march toward the KGW-TV studio. Organizers said the move was targeted at the Federal Communication Commission, the broadcast regulator that they said has been co-opted by Trump loyalists.

“It’s been whenever anybody tells the truth, people get lawsuits,” organizer Danielle Stegall said, referring to Trump’s personal lawsuits against multiple media organizations.

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Trump’s second term has resurfaced some of his earliest critics. The Women’s March, a global movement advocating for women’s rights that led tens of thousands to protest his first inauguration in 2017, helped orchestrate Tuesday’s nationwide protest.

They and other organizers encouraged people to walk-out of work or school Tuesday afternoon -- or even shutdown business for an hour in solidarity.

Several hundred Tigard High School students left class early. Some told OPB they’re tired of seeing classmates and community members fearful of being targeted by federal immigration agents.

Southwest Washington

About 100 people demonstrated outside the offices of U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat in one of the most hotly contested House seats in the country.

The upcoming midterms will give voters their first real chance to meaningfully weigh-in on the direction of the country since Trump’s return to power.

Carrie Parks stood outside the representative’s offices at Fort Vancouver as she criticized Gluesenkamp Perez. Parks said the stridently centrist Democrat isn’t doing enough to stand up to the president.

“Trump is an authoritarian who is trying to take over,” Parks said. “We’ve got to stand up to him. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez needs to stand up to him.”

Parks said she helped campaign for the two-term congresswoman but now feels betrayed that her representative doesn’t advocate for civil rights as much as she used to.

“She talked a lot about civil rights and so I really thought she meant it,” Parks said, as she gathered comment cards that she plans to turn over to Gluesenkamp Perez’s office.