VALLEJO – A dedicated group of residents in Vallejo and Benicia have been holding weekly protests since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration last year.
One year since the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration, they expressed frustration, but also hope that their organizing would have an impact.
Claire Siverson, one of the organizers of Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible, said at a rally in Vallejo on Saturday that she worries about how Trump uses his power in a way that “violates the Constitution and intimidates and harms his political opponents, the press, and the basic pillars of society.”
“I worry about our freedom of assembly, and about our freedom of speech, the basic freedoms that we grew up with in this country,” Siverson added. “Those of us who grew up in this country have learned to take it for granted, and I’m very worried about the fragility of our society.”
Benicia resident Kent Odell said he is “feeling horrible, but not surprised.”
“Trump said what he was going to do all along,” he said.
Odell referenced Project 2025, a 900-page document created by the far-right Heritage Foundation to significantly overhaul the federal government. Despite initially claiming he was not associated with the project, Trump has since rolled out a number of policies from the document, like mass deportations, restricting reproductive rights, dismantling the Department of Education, and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Laurie Brown has been coming to the protests with Odell every Saturday since March 2025, only stopping when she had to take a break to recover from a surgery.
They said they’ve seen the number of attendees increase steadily each week. Odell said attendance “skyrocketed” after Immigrations and Custom Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 8.
It was a blatant “murder of an American citizen,” said Brown. She said that coming to these protests helps her to feel less alone.
“There's this community of people who see what you see and agree that it’s egregious,” said Brown.
Many protesters echoed Brown’s concerns about ICE escalations, Good’s death, and the White House threatening to further ramp up immigration crackdowns. Others called for the president to be impeached again and removed from office, while some noted that the Epstein files still needed to be made available to the public after the Department of Justice ignored the Dec. 19 deadline to release them all. Others also demanded that Trump stop trying to acquire Greenland.
In Vallejo on Saturday, the protestors stood on all four corners of the street outside of Home Depot and Olive Garden. In Benicia on Sunday, they lined the sidewalk in front of City Park on First Street. They waved signs that said slogans like “hate has no home here,” “ICE out for good,” and “we the people are pissed” as a steady stream of honks filled the air from drivers passing by.
“It’s really gratifying to see people go by, look at the signs, realize what’s going on, and wave,” said Odell. “The percentage of positive responses is 98%. You very rarely get flipped off.”
The protestors have occasionally been harassed. One resident shared a video of a truck driver from about a month ago who drove up and down the street “coal rolling” them, which is the act of intentionally tampering with a vehicle to emit large plumes of diesel smoke, often for the purpose of blasting pedestrians and bicyclists.
Still, that hasn’t stopped most of them from showing up every weekend. Former poet laureate D.L. Lang was in attendance at the Vallejo rally, and she said she enjoys the camaraderie of being among people who share similar values. She said that she and her mother were born in Germany and they worry about the rhetoric the administration uses against immigrants.
“I want this targeting of innocent people to stop,” Lang said.
Jeff Deiss said he enjoys going to the protests because they feel cathartic.
“It allows me to let off all the emotion that builds up every week reading all of the things this administration is doing,” explained Deiss. “I just don't know what to do, except to show up with a sign and try to speak out against it.”
Deiss expressed hope that the Democrats would win control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections. In the past few months, Trump has directed Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina to draw new congressional maps to give Republicans an edge, which led to Californians voting to pass its own redistricting measure, Prop 50, in response. Trump recently suggested canceling the midterm elections; the White House press secretary said he was “simply joking.”
“You can’t lose hope,” said Deiss. “The people just need to keep showing up until we can change the leadership of the country and we can get a new administration that respects the rights of the people.”
The weekly protests are held in Vallejo on Saturdays at 11 a.m. by 1175 Admiral Callaghan Lane and on Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m. outside the Vallejo ferry building. In Benicia, the protests happen at City Park by the gazebo on Thursdays at 4 p.m. and Sundays at noon.
There are also sign-holding events that happen on the overpass bridges above Springs Road at 4 p.m. on Fridays and above Benicia Road on Wednesdays at 3 p.m.
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