Protests against President Donald Trump are underway across Oregon, the Northwest and the nation as Tuesday marks one year since Trump returned to the White House.
The events are likely to be the largest coordinated national effort since the “No Kings” rallies in 2025.
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.”
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.
Beaverton resident Mike Johnson was among them. He said he was protesting for several reasons, but mainly due to ICE activity in the community.
“The ICE raids are unacceptable,” he said. “These guys are masked, armed, just lawless thugs that are storming the communities ... My kids are both in the Beaverton School District and they have friends, and, in Latino areas especially, that their parents, their families are afraid to leave their houses. This is not who we are.”
Dorothy Leman, 63, joined a group of protestors in downtown Bend on Tuesday.
“I’m here at this protest today to stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law,” Leman told OPB. “Trump and his people are deliberately trying to overturn our constitution and our systems of checks and balances.”
Leman said she’s concerned the administration is also 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.”
Maya Jaquez, 26, was also at the Bend protest. She told OPB not everyone in her Mexican American community is able to speak out against aggressive immigration enforcement.
“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, and I feel like Bend should be a good place for that, and I want to continue to promote a safe space for people.”
Many more walkout events are taking place, including a rally at Couch Park in Northwest Portland.
Fifteen-year-old Ellanora Hubbard left school early to join the Couch Park protest.
“Because I have a bunch of immigrant family and I am Hispanic – I feel, not that I should, but it’s good – because 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.”
Demonstrators gathered at the park around 2 p.m. Soon after, a group formed to march to the KGW-TV studio.
Organizer Danielle Stegall told OPB that organizations like the Federal Communication Commission, which regulates media outlets like KGW, have been taken over by Trump loyalists.
“It’s been whenever anybody tells the truth, people get lawsuits,” Stegall said, referring to Trump’s personal lawsuits against multiple media organizations.
The Women’s March, a global movement focused on advocating for women’s rights, is among the groups organizing the nationwide protest.
According to its website, organizers are encouraging people to “walk towards a free America and away from fascism.”
“Those in power have escalated attacks on our rights, our bodies, and our livelihoods,” read a post on their website. “Walking out lets us stress-test our readiness for real, collective action—not just symbolic protest.”
Organizers have encouraged people to leave work or school early Tuesday. They’re also calling on business owners who are unable to close their doors to at least shut down for an hour at 2 p.m. in solidarity with the movement.
A few hundred students at Tigard High School walked out of class Tuesday afternoon to express opposition mostly to Trump’s immigration policies. Some students told OPB they’re tired of seeing fellow students and community members fearful of being targeted by federal immigration agents.
In Southwest Washington, about 100 people gathered outside of Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s district office Tuesday afternoon at Fort Vancouver.
Carrie Parks was among the group rallying outside her office. She criticized the Washington representative saying she isn’t doing enough to stand up against the president.
“I mean there’s a daily onslaught of just the most horrible, horrific things happening to people in this country,” Parks said. “Trump is an authoritarian who’s trying to take over and we’ve got to stand up to him and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez needs to stand up to him.”
Parks said she helped campaign for Gluesenkamp Perez’s in the past but now feels betrayed that the congresswoman 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. “I kind of feel betrayed because she never talks about civil rights now and we need her to.”
Parks, who was gathering comment cards from other protesters Tuesday, said she plans on sharing them with Gluesenkamp Perez.
Additional walkout protests happened in Bend, Corvallis, Tigard and Sherwood.
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 separate protest against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also planned Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Lownsdale Square in downtown Portland.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
