AUGUSTA — Flavia Riley held two signs outside the State House Thursday to protest the Trump administration, joining thousands of others across the nation for a day of demonstrations.
One sign read “Due Process is a Human Right” and the other “We the People Dissent!”
The Damariscotta resident said mass deportations are just one reason she’s upset.
“They arrested people who have no criminal record, who are working, they aren’t bumming off the system,” she said. “In fact, we know that immigrants bring in and do more for this country, they are vital. For them to be just not only marginalized, but attacked like this, is just shameful.”
Riley joined hundreds who stood outside the State House, many waving American flags, others with signs saying, “Wake Up This is Not Normal” and “Our Kids Deserve School Funding.”
With the theme “Good Trouble: Maine will NOT be Bullied!” the silent protest included no rally cries or catchy chants, just many horns honking in support as people drove down State Street on a hot July day.
“We’re here today as part of an ongoing series of protests against this authoritarian regime that is masquerading as our federal government,” said Elizabeth Leonard, one of the event organizers. “Today our goal is to show we are going to resist, nonviolently, intrusions into our state as best we can.”
The Trump administration is working to deport illegal immigrants following a January executive order in which President Donald Trump characterized the effort as necessary for “national security and public safety.”
The “big beautiful bill” passed by Congress and signed by Trump on July 4 earmarks $150 billion to support mass deportations over the next four years, including money for the southern border wall, building detention centers and hiring thousands of additional law enforcement officers, according to the Associated Press.
Across the country on Thursday, some 1,500 protests of various Trump policies were scheduled to take place. According to national organizers, which included Black Voters Matter and the League of Women Voters, the event was designed to mark five years since the death of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a prominent civil rights leader who encouraged non-violent resistance.
“We are facing the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations,” according to the Good Trouble website. “Whether you’re outraged by attacks on voting rights, the gutting of essential services, disappearances of our neighbors, or the assault on free speech and our right to protest — this movement is for you.”
Back in Augusta, Richard Heath of Whitefield said he showed up to honor Lewis’ memory. Heath said he’s upset with Republicans in Washington for approving cuts to foreign aid and public media.
“What they’ve just done in Congress I think is abhorrent,” he said. “In terms of the money they pulled back from public radio and public television and from foreign outreach to the rest of the world. I think it’s a price we’re going to pay for many years yet. My only hope is the midterm elections.”