El Centro’s “No Kings” Protest Reflects Mixed Opinions Amid Nationwide Demonstrations
EL CENTRO, Calif. (June 14, 2025) — Over 250 people gathered along Imperial Avenue in El Centro on Saturday morning to protest President Donald Trump’s policies and actions during his second term. Passing cars honked in support. Unlike past demonstrations in Los Angeles, most protests even in larger cities stayed peaceful. All protests in the Imperial Valley, including this one, were entirely peaceful.
kOrganizers provided water and premade signs and ensured participants did not linger in nearby parking lots to avoid disturbing local businesses. Paramedics and EMTs were on standby.
The protest began at 9 a.m. and ended at 11 a.m., with some participants continuing their demonstration at Bucklin Park. While most protesters opposed Trump, a small group of supporters — including Brian Mendoza, The first part was Ben Beltran, and Brian Graham circled the protest in trucks flying American flags and a U.S. Navy flag.
We spoke to Joseph Bernal, chief of the El Centro Fire Department, who was on scene, along with his teem of EMT’s and Firefighters, to hopefully help prevent harm in the Imperial Valley’s 100° weather, as we approach summer. “What we’re doing here today out here is, we’re just protecting the residents here that we have in the community. We’re just staging here, a little bit set back from the event that’s going on right now, up to this point, we’ve had one call for service, and we’re just here just because we have a lot of our residents who are outside exposed to the elements, and as we all know, it’s very hot this area. It’s supposed to be hot today. So we’re just preparing for any possible medical inst we may have.”
Frencis Beope, the event organizer, told 760 News Media during an interview “We are united with the rest of the nation in supporting the No King’s Day event because we truly believe that our Constitution is in jeopardy with this current administration As he continues to break one law after another.”she said “we are here to provide courage and to stand up on their behalf as well as our own.” She continued
Thomas Henderson, co-host of the event and also a veteran, told us “I’m a coorganizer of this event, the No Kings event, and it’s important to me as an individual and a veteran that our president took an oath to support, defend, and protect the Constitution of the United States. His actions today prove he does none of the above.”
Former city council and mayor of Calexico, Bill Hodge told us in an interview “ I feel great about this, and I applaud the organizers of this event, because it is being done in a peaceful manner, which is extremely important that we don't give Trump any more excuses to clap down on. US citizens.” he said. “It's extremely important that we rise up against this authoritarian figure.. If we don't, we will eventually lose a lot of our freedom
Among the protesters was Rosario Ramos Aragon, who brought a hand-painted painting and held it up in pride. The artwork, according to her, depicts the Statue of Liberty on fire with a diverse representation of different types of immigrants protesting below. She said, “every person here represents every type of immigrant,” and added, “this is the top of liberty, and it’s falling apart by Trump.”
A few Trump supporters circled the rally with American and U.S. Navy flags flying behind their vehicles. Several people, not all, just a few shouted profanities and insults. When asked about the protest, Brian Mendoza said “I mean, they got the right to speak whatever they want, you know, free speech, but it kind of makes them look kind of a little ignorant, yelling, all that, all that stuff, you know what I mean?
At the end of the day, like, I mean, we’re all here and it’s kind of goofy, everything that’s going on in my point of view, just. But everybody’s got their right man, too protest.”
“As long as they keep it peaceful, everything should be fine, you know?”
Brian Graham added:
“Obama deported more and Clinton did too, I think it was was it Clinton and Obama. But yeah, nobody said anything about him, about them it’s Like you said, everybody has their own right to protest. That’s why you come here. But it just like it makes no sense.”
During his two terms in office, President Barack Obama oversaw the formal removal of approximately 3.1 million Illegal immigrants form the United States, based on data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for fiscal years 2009-2016.
compared to During President Trump first term (2017-2020), Donald Trump's administration deported approximatelY 1.2 million immigrants through removal orders. NBC News reported that ICE deported 11,000 migrants in February, just over 12,300 in the first four weeks of March, and approximately 17,200 in April.
Trump administration officials have said they will prioritize deporting criminals, but ICE data shows that roughly half of those who were deported in February did not have criminal records, and more than half of those currently in ICE detention have no criminal charges or convictions.
Mendoza continued:
“We’re here supporting our side, and we believe in our country… it’s a freedom that everyone has We’re exercising our freedom, but by rolling our American flags.”
The No Kings protests (also known as No Kings Day or No Dictators Day/protests) were a series of demonstrations that took place on June 14, 2025, the day of the U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Parade and the 79th birthday of U.S. president Donald Trump, in protest of Trump’s policies and actions during his second presidency. It is estimated that over 5 million people participated in over 2,000 events nationwide in the largest coordinated protests since the start of the second Trump administration.