The College Fix

Student activists, lawmaker condemn Trump’s immigration policies, call for impeachment  

TALLAHASSEE – Multiple Florida student organizations protested at the state Capitol in opposition to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy agenda, Project 2025, Monday.

The demonstrators waved signs with an array of anti-Trump and anti-Republican messages, while chanting various phrases, including “down with Donald Trump” and calls to impeach the president. The demonstrators were joined by Democrat State Rep. Anna Eskamani, who rallied in support of their efforts.

One protester told The College Fix reporter on the scene that illegal immigration is justified because U.S. foreign policy has led to economic and political instability. Meanwhile, the leader of a conservative campus group told The Fix the event was “beyond absurd.”

The organizations involved included Students for a Democratic Society, Rising Voices Collective, Food Not Bombs, Occupy Florida, and Industrial Workers of the World. Florida State University’s Hispanic/Latinx Student Union was also tagged in the social media posts announcing the event.

“No Project 2025! No kings!” Tallahassee Food not Bombs wrote in a post on Facebook leading up to the event.

“Join us on Presidents Day outside of the Florida state capitol to show resistance against project 2025 and Elon Musk’s takeover of the Oval Office,” the post stated.

The groups put on the demonstration as part of a nationwide President’s Day chain of protests promoted by the 50501 Movement, an initiative that organizes anti-Trump events. Many of the rallies across the state and country were themed “No Kings Day.”

One protester, a student named Robert Lee, told The Fix that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally are justified in coming due to the country’s impact internationally.

“What most of these people are fleeing are either economic conditions or unrest in their countries that a lot of times were, if not outright caused by, they were fueled by the United States and United States foreign policy,” Lee said.

“So, to some degree, we are kind of reaping what we sowed with immigrants trying to come here for a better life,” he said.

Lee also said more young people, particularly college students, should get involved in the protest against Trump.

MORE: U. Indiana activists protest Trump’s ‘brutality’ against immigrants

“There are a lot of attacks happening right now on education. So hearing the voices of the people affected by that is super important and also keeping them engaged in the communities that they’re in when they go off to college,” he said.

Lee also said another objective of the event was to oppose the Trump administration’s “attacks on trans rights” such as “trying to take away gender-affirming care” or “the legal protections of people being able to use their chosen names.”

Further, activists celebrated Florida State University’s recent decision to reinstate specialized housing that allows students to select roommates based on shared LGBT “identities.”

“It’s something that seems especially callous and ridiculous to target such a small percentage of the U.S. population on topics that truly don’t affect anybody but the people living their lives themselves,” Lee said.

On the other hand, Florida State University College Republicans President Zak Poore told The Fix via email it was “shocking” to see the behavior of the activists on social media and in the community.

He also said the left has “repeatedly spread lies” and used “dangerous fear-mongering tactics.”

“We have seen just how dangerous they can get by seeing two attempts on President Trump’s life,” he said.

“To think Donald Trump and Elon Musk are becoming ‘kings’ or ‘trying to strip our democracy’ is beyond absurd,” Poore said. “It didn’t happen in the first 4 years and it’s not going to happen in his last 4 years.”

“From deporting illegal immigrants who broke the law to cutting useless spending projects, President Trump has always put America first,” he said.

MORE: Yale Jewish students kicked out of own center during pro-Palestinian protest

IMAGE: Owen Girard

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