NEWPORT, Ky. — More than 50 people surrounded the 5th Street roundabout in Newport Tuesday to denounce the Trump administration's decision to call on the National Guard and U.S. Marines in response to days of unrest in Los Angeles over immigration raids.
Indivisible NKY organized the protest to show solidarity with the thousands of protesters filling LA streets and the hundreds who protested closer to home in Hamilton against recent immigrant detentions in Butler County.
Cofounder Ann Dickerson said it was important that people facing increased attention from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials knew they had support in Northern Kentucky.
"Everything that's being done is a direct attack on our Constitution," Dickerson said.
WATCH: LA military deployment prompts Northern Kentucky protests
Another leader of the group, Roberto Henriquez, said the majority of protests in the U.S., like the one they organized Tuesday, were peaceful. He argued the military response to protests in Los Angeles was heavy-handed, unnecessary and likely illegal.
"Violence is not the answer," Henriquez said. "Nobody should be out there burning cars or attacking people, but, for the most part, the protesters in California and other places are peaceful."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a federal lawsuit against the administration attempting to block the deployment of the state's National Guard.
At a rally recognizing the Army's 250th birthday, President Donald Trump described the situation developing in California very differently.
"What you're seeing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order, and on national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country," he said. "We're not going to let that happen."
Indivisible NKY members said they would be in the fight against Trump's mass-deportation policy as long as it is needed.
"We were here for the first four years," said Dickerson. "We'll be here for the next, and we're not going anywhere."
