By Oregon Public Broadcasting and Lincoln Chronicle
When organizers began to plan for “No Kings” protests Saturday, they were motivated by the massive military parade President Donald Trump scheduled for his 79th birthday.
But by the time protesters around the country and across Oregon showed up to rallies at noon Saturday many were more focused on immigration than on the president’s planned display of military power. Over the past week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested 2,000 people per day.
Among Northwest residents who have been recently detained are a prominent church leader and business owner from Newberg, and a family of six including a pregnant mother from Washington state.
Concern over the demonization of immigrants and federal immigration policy drew Marshall Cho to Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park with his child and niece.
Cho arrived in the U.S. from South Korea when he was 10 years old. He said the country took him in and gave him opportunities, but more recently he’s seen the word “immigrant” become a point of contention.
“This is a personal attack. It’s an attack on me. It’s an attack on my family,” he said. As he spoke, people in the crowd around him chanted: “Immigrants are welcome here.”
“All these people who are standing up and speaking up, it’s super motivating and drives me to think of ways to be more active,” Cho said.
He said he hopes Saturday’s protests inspire more people to speak out and stand up for the vulnerable.
On the coast
In Lincoln County, hundreds of people lined U.S. Highway 101 in Newport, Yachats and Lincoln City as part of the national “No Kings” day protest. Hundreds more demonstrated in Florence.
The protests were peaceful as demonstrators flew a variety of flags outside Newport city hall and along the highway in Lincoln City and Yachats, many of them upside down U.S. flags signaling distress.
The demonstrations came a week after a Newport man was assaulted during an anti-Trump protest and follows protests in Los Angeles and other major cities in response to ICE raids and deportations. Many Newport demonstrators held signs in opposition of Trump’s federal immigration response along with a variety of other issues.
In Newport, the crowd was estimated to be 700 to 900 people and larger than the Hands Off protest in April, said Annette Talbott, a member of Invisible Waves, the group that organized Newport’s demonstration.
The crowd along the highway in Yachats was estimated at 400 and in Lincoln City it was 500.
Coming out a week after a Newport protester was assaulted, Talbot said whenever someone passing by seemed agitated, the crowd would chant “USA” to de-escalate.
“It’s a uniter,” Talbott said, “And there is actually nothing more patriotic than a protest.”
Some demonstrators brought music, drums and microphones to the entrance of Newport city hall, adding to the cacophony of car horns and chanting.
There was also recorded music near the Yachats Commons as protestors lined both sides of the highway for blocks. Cars and trucks passing through on a busy, sunny Saturday honked and many waved in support.
Willamette Valley demonstrations
Yamhill County voted 51 percent for President Donald Trump last year.
Anne Mildenberger has been organizing rallies in Newberg since February. But Saturday’s “No Kings” rally felt different. She had never seen this many people gather or heard this much honking.
“I look around and I see all of this conservative population that we thought was conservative here supporting their neighbors,” she said. “And there’s something about this kind of support that lets you know that you’re not alone.
Hundreds of people lined the streets of downtown Newberg near a tall flagpole waving the American flag.
Many people drove by and gave thumbs-up, while some drivers waved Trump hats even yelled at protesters.
Yamhill County commissioner Bubba King, who participated in the protest, said he knew one of the people who was arrested and felt that the local business had been targeted. In a county where a majority of voters backed President Donald Trump, King said, he believes support for immigrants can cross party lines.
“There are Republicans that care about this and understand that these are our neighbors. These are our friends. Our kids go to school with their kids,” King told OPB. “My grandparents were Hispanic and this is something that they fought a long time ago so that I wouldn’t have to. As an elected official I want to show my support, no matter what it takes.”
Reaction to Minnesota deaths
Daytime protests in the Northwest were largely peaceful Saturday. But “No Kings” protests in Minnesota were canceled after a state legislator and her husband were shot and killed, and a state senator and his wife were injured.
Politicians in the Northwest condemned what has been described as a political assassination.
“I am horrified and sickened by the targeted, political assassination and shooting of elected leaders and their spouses in Minnesota last night,” Oregon House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby said in a statement Saturday.
“The America we love is wounded by these acts of violence,” Drazan said. “I pray for the families and loved ones of Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and for a swift recovery for Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.”
Elsewhere in the Northwest
In Portland, more than 10,000 people filled Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Thousands streamed down Naito Parkway, with many chanting against the Trump administration. Politicians and community leaders took turns at a microphone rallying the crowd. Some protesters also marched across the Hawthorne Bridge.
Protesters in Eugene left the city’s federal courthouse midday to march through downtown, according to KLCC News. They filled the city’s Fifth Avenue carrying American flags, posters with political slogans, and effigies portraying President Donald Trump as a villain. Marchers stopped periodically to let traffic through.
In Seattle, a huge crowd convened for that city’s protest. Attorney Noah Purcell, the state’s solicitor general, led a chant, “follow the damn law,” according to KUOW radio. Several people carried a plus-sized banner emblazoned with an image of the preamble to the United States constitution.
In Medford, thousands of people lined both sides of East McAndrews Road for over half a mile. Some Medford protesters participated from decorated cars while carrying signs. One driver waved American flags and smiled from a car painted with the words “No Kings.”
Counter-protesters, meanwhile, painted their vehicles as well. One truck was seen driving by painted with pro-Trump messaging as a passenger waved a flag that read “Trump 2024 the return. Make liberals cry.”
- Shayla Escudero of the Lincoln Chronicle contributed to this report
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