WEST PALM BEACH — About 3,000 demonstrators marched Saturday near President Donald Trump’s Mara-a-Lago estate to protest his now-blocked executive order temporarily limiting immigration.
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The protest began with a rally outside Trump Plaza in West Palm Beach. They marched 2 miles to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump and his wife, Melania, are staying at the private resort for the weekend and attending an fundraiser gala for the American Red Cross at the club’s ballroom.
A federal judge in Seattle on Friday temporarily invalidated the administration’s ban on travel to the U.S. from seven primarily Muslim nations. Trump replied Saturday on Twitter, calling Judge James L. Robart a "so-called judge" and the ruling "ridiculous."
The Justice Department said it will ask a federal appeals court to set aside Robart’s order. On Saturday night, Trump told reporters: "We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win."
Protesters shouted anti-Trump slogans and set up a flag-draped coffin that they said represented the death of democracy.
Anti-Trump tensions rally Florida protesters.
Shortly before 8 p.m., several hundred people crossed a bridge and demonstrated in front of the resort. About two dozen law-enforcement officers in riot gear blocked the end of the bridge, but there were no arrests. The protest ended around 9 p.m.
Erica Rudolph, a West Palm Beach private investigator, said if Trump has no opposition he’ll turn the U.S. into Russia, where dissent is not allowed.
"It is time for all of us to stand up and shout and say, ‘We are not going to let you take our rights,’ " Rudolph said. She held a placard reading "Too many issues for just one sign."
Alison Corin, a Delray Beach homemaker, said that as an immigrant from England she needed to stand up for refugees. She held a sign saying, "Remember the St. Louis," referring to a ship carrying Jewish refugees that the U.S. turned back and returned to Nazi Germany.
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"I’m married to a Jewish guy so this is important to me," she said. "There’s the whole vulgarity of (Trump). He’s nasty."
Some pro-Trump counter-demonstrators also came out. They included a group of about five students from Palm Beach Atlantic University, an evangelical Christian school.
Travis Miller, a student from Council Bluffs, Iowa, said, "They have a right to protest, but we’ve come out here to show our patriotism. Trump just got elected and we are all for America."
About 700 guests were expected to attend the white-tie fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Women arrived in sequined ball gowns, some wearing tiaras on their heads and hefty diamonds on their fingers. One man lifted his pants leg to reveal a pair of Trump socks.
Cocktail hour on the lawn ended with fireworks before the guests slowly filed in to the ballroom for the main event, followed by the president and first lady.
The protest was organized by Women’s March Florida and South Florida Activism.
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