CAMDEN — Thousands of people hit the streets of New Jersey Saturday to protest President Donald Trump during the third official No Kings protests, a national day of action that mobilized millions around the country to demand change 14 months into his controversial second term.
Trump’s critics had plenty to protest, given all that has happened since the last No Kings protests in October, including a deadly, costly war with Iran, escalating brutality by immigration agents, and the deployment of armed immigration agents to airports.
In Camden, Marjory McCoy of Barrington joined a march that stretched for several blocks and ended with a raucous rally in Wiggins Waterfront Park on the Delaware River. She carried a sign bearing her blunt wish, “Waiting for the Big Beautiful Obituary,” and started to tick off a long list of her objections before giving up.
“There’s pretty much nothing he’s done that I agree with one iota,” McCoy said. “I hate Trump. I hate his whole administration. I hate everything they’ve done to our country. We’re the laughingstock of the whole world.”
William Davis of Clementon felt driven to protest because of “the quick decline of our democracy to an oligarchy.”
“It seems like we are making progress, and we are making change, but it can’t come fast enough, and I’m not sure if there’s going to be any resolution in the near future,” Davis said. “Hopefully, the midterms will be the turning tide, and we’ll be able to kind of control as much of the damage as possible.”
Amelie and Justin Mabee of Palmyra marched to protest “a government that doesn’t care about its citizens. Amelie Mabee carried a sign with a slogan, “Fire Is Catching,” cribbed from the famous fictional dictatorship in Hunger Games, while her husband’s sign was more multipurpose — “Go Birds, F*** ICE, Free Palestine.”
“We’re here because we want a country that loves people and cares about people, instead of tries to kill them on the streets and do away with the rule of law,” Amelie Mabee said. “Even to his own constituents, Donald Trump has lied. He promised no war, and once again, we are in an endless war with Iran that will never end, because they will always have a reason to try and get oil from other countries. So even to his own constituents, he’s a liar, he’s a criminal, and he needs to go to prison. Every single member of his administration should go to jail.”
Trump’s immigration crackdown was top of mind for many protesters, with Saturday’s demonstrations coming just three days after Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, signed three new laws to strengthen protections for immigrants in New Jersey and six weeks after she limited immigration enforcement operations on state property. Sherrill spoke briefly Saturday at a No Kings rally in Princeton.
Several activists at Camden’s protest hoped to enlist supporters in an effort to get county officials to ban immigration agents on county property, as counties including Hudson and Middlesex have done. Marie Henselder-Kimmel, a Cherry Hill resident and founder of New Jersey Voters Want More Say, pointed to ICE activity in Lindenwold last month that drove scared students to flee their bus stop.
“ICE is here in Camden County,” she said. “I’m taking advantage of thousands of people here so that we can get our word out and get the county commissioners to understand that people care about this, and they should do something about it. We want them to protect our residents, too.”
Minutes later, they did.
Louis Cappelli Jr., director of the Camden County commissioners, addressed the crowd from a riverside stage.
“Today, we have a very special message for ICE. ICE, you are no longer permitted on property owned by the County of Camden. Stay out of our county!” Cappelli yelled, prompting cheers from the crowd.
Earlier, Sen. Andy Kim, the son of Korean immigrants, introduced his smiling mother to the crowd.
“I wanted her to come here because I wanted her to see what it is that we’re trying to fight for,” he said.
He reminded protesters that Trump officials plan to open an immigration jail in Roxbury that would hold thousands of detainees, and Republicans in Congress last week tried to tack 10 years of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement onto the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. That amendment was defeated.
Rep. Donald Norcross, a Democrat, was still so mad about his Republican colleagues’ efforts to balloon ICE funding that he resorted to profanity before Camden’s No Kings crowd.
“I literally just got off the train coming back from Washington, where we were on the floor of the House yesterday, against these folks who are out of their f***ing minds. They’re nuts, sitting there telling us we got to give another $60 billion to ICE,” he said.
Kim urged the crowd to turn their anger into advocacy and ongoing action.
“I want each and every one of you to think about, what are you going to do tomorrow? What are you going to do next week? What are you going to do next month? What are you going to do as we get towards the most important midterm election of our lifetimes to be able to save this country?” he said. “Each of you come up with a plan of what it is that you can do. You got to fight like it is about our kids, because it is! We know that the next three years will shape the next three decades of this country, so we have to make sure we’re going to give it all that we can.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
