More than 4,000 people turned out to protest against the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agency and President Donald Trump Saturday outside the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville.
The event was organized by 5050-1, which means 50 protests in 50 states with one movement. The political activist organization estimated they organized more than 2,000 demonstrations Saturday across the nation with about two dozen in Florida alone as part of what the group called “No Kings Day.”
The crowd joined in chants led by speakers such as, “No Kings,” referring to their belief that Trump sees himself as a regal leader, a charge the White House has denied and insists he’s the president of a constitutional republic.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, was the keynote speaker at the Duval County event that lasted more than two hours in the sweltering heat.
“I consider my self to be the biggest pain in (Gov.) Ron DeSantis’s ass,” Nixon said as the crowd erupted into cheers. “I look forward to being the biggest pain in Donald Trump’s ass.”
She went on to urge those in the crowd to become consistent voters and change the leadership in American government in the 2026 midterm elections by motivating other residents to vote against the Trump agenda and candidates who favor the President’s approach.
It was clearly the largest political demonstration in Jacksonville in five years to the month when a four-week series of protests over the George Floyd killing by police in 2020 drew thousands to different sites downtown each weekend. The crowd at Saturday’s demonstration was raucous as speaker after speaker railed against the Trump administration and its immigration policies and many said they were kindred spirits with protesters in Los Angeles who clashed with police, the California National Guard and even U.S. Marines in the past week over immigration policies.
Maria Garcia, an organizer with the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, was also one of more than a dozen speakers and turned her attention to local Jacksonville City Council Member Rory Diamond who introduced a successful City Council measure this month that would block any programs from using city funds to pay for supporting immigration services. It passed Tuesday, but the Mayor has not signed it yet.
Garcia said the Republican Diamond is a “racist.”
Another City Council Member, Jimmy Peluso, was among the crowd during the protest and often joined in the cheers and chants. He said he was impressed with the turnout, but he derided the claim that some of his colleagues on the council were racist, particularly Diamond.
“What I’m behind is our First Amendment rights,” Peluso, a Democrat, said. “I’m not going to say my colleagues are racist. My interactions with them show me different.”
The participants in the crowd were not unanimously anti-Trump. Amelia Hughes was standing near the speaker’s platform and said she came from Waycross, Geogia to attend the protest she sees as misguided.
“In my heart I need to be here to speak out for those who can’t speak,” Hughes said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much hate for one person (Trump).”
A small airplane circled the protest site briefly with a banner behind it that said, “Duval for Trump.”
The protest site was directly in front of the courthouse on Adams Street Downtown, and the scene was more sedate than in some other cities.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office police kept their distance for the most part with department vehicles blocking road traffic at key intersections establishing a several-block perimeter surrounding the event. About a dozen sheriff’s officers riding patrol bicycles routinely passed through the area to monitor the demonstration, but there was no notable interaction.
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