From mass refusals to boycotts to walkouts, regular Americans are bravely pushing back against the administration. Their actions are diverse and multiplying — and already having an impact.
By Rivera Sun
March 14, 2025
Source: Waging Nonviolence
Thousands protested on March 8, International Women’s Day, in Montpelier, Vermont. (50501VT/Timothy Santimore)
It’s been a long six weeks since Donald Trump was sworn into office amid a Nazi salute and a machine-gun barrage of 89 executive orders. We’ve been struggling for our lives, our country and our world ever since.
From boycotts to mass noncompliance to street demonstrations, the response to the Trump administration’s policies has consisted of an impressive range of nonviolent tactics.
More than just outraged protests, people are thwarting raids, refusing to obey unjust orders, standing up to bully politics and taking risks to do the right thing. The resistance is diverse, multi-stranded and feisty — and some of it is working. It has forced Trump to reverse course or push the brakes on numerous issues, including his original plan for 25 percent tariffs, funding freeze, federal worker buyout deal, firing USDA and CFPB workers, and more.
And while there have been a deluge of unjust policies coming out of the administration, the hundreds of thousands of people taking action are showing that resistance is not futile. In fact, it may be crucial. If your friends are sinking in defeatism and wondering if there’s any point in protesting, here’s a detailed look at the astonishing amount of resistance happening — and why it makes a difference if they join in.
First steps of resistance
On Inauguration Day, a fugue of stifling fear, defeatism and dread permeated the nation. But one brave minister — Rev. Mariann Budde, the first female Bishop of Washington, D.C. in the Episcopal Church — broke through that fear at the Inaugural Prayer Service by issuing a direct plea of compassion for immigrants, refugees and LGBTQ+ communities.
Rev. Budde’s open defiance — straight to Trump’s face, as he sat in the front row with his billionaire-backers directly behind him — unleashed the floodgates of popular courage. While Trump went on to sign 89 executive orders against DEIA policies, climate science, trans rights and more, people started posting alarmed comments on social media.
When it came to on-the-ground actions, however, a certain reluctance to get onto the streets seemed to pervade. People’s March rallies were held in 200 locations around the country, including 100,000 people in D.C., but they only turned out a fraction of their record-breaking 2017 counterparts. What’s more, when the first 50501 protests were announced — calling for 50 protests in 50 states on Feb. 5 — many activists on social media issued warnings not to attend, fearing round-ups, violence from Trump supporters and the kind of chaos that could provoke martial law.
Fortunately, thousands of protesters in cities across 47 states took to the streets anyway, winning an important early victory against fear.
Another set of early campaigns that shifted people from worry into action were the mischievous — and fierce — efforts to flood snitch lines (the hotlines and emails set up by the federal government to receive reports of violations of Trump’s executive orders). These relatively safe actions offered a cross between expressing outrage and the satisfaction of overloading systems that targeted migrants, queer and trans individuals and DEIA policies. The hiring site for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, became another popular target. Each time someone submitted a crank response — like the script to “The Bee Movie” or Scrooge McDuck — the humor and defiance further emboldened resistance.
Thwarting ICE raids
In the first week of Trump’s second presidency, ICE raids started sweeping the nation, trying to round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Migrant communities had been preparing for this onslaught for months. Drawing on decades of resistance strategies, some businesses prepared routes of escape out back doors or private areas that ICE could not enter by law. Field workers in California used stay-at-home strikes to evade agents with up to 75-85 percent of the workforce not showing up.
In school districts like Los Angeles, teachers refused to let agents enter the grounds. Sanctuary cities like Chicago flatly denied any cooperation with ICE. Sanctuary churches defended their historic right to provide shelter to the oppressed. Meanwhile, Day Without Immigrants — a coordinated day of action against unfair immigration policies and deportations — held strikes and work closures in 120 cities across 40 states. Thousands blocked a major freeway in Los Angeles protesting deportations. Similar protests were held in San Diego, Dallas, Houston and Olympia. Meanwhile, Los Angeles students walked out of class for five days straight to protest ICE raids. Student walkouts also occurred in Bakersfield, Sacramento and Redwood City.
Opposition to mass deportations also spanned beyond U.S. borders, as Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Honduras all coordinated resistance efforts. Pope Francis wrote a sweeping letter to U.S. bishops denouncing Trump’s mass deportation plans and Vice President JD Vance’s use of Catholic theology to justify the crackdown. Even the IRS got involved, refusing to hand over the personal data of 700,000 individuals, as Homeland Security tried to find the addresses of undocumented immigrants. Know Your Rights trainings erupted, training thousands of people in how to stop agents at the door. This was so effective that Tom Homan, Trump’s so-called border czar, complained that the legal trainings were “making it very difficult” to deport people.
The immigration raids were a chilling sign that Trump 2.0 fully intends to follow through on some of its cruel promises. The resistance to them is sending a clear message: Just because he wants to do something doesn’t mean we’ll let him. The continued opposition to ICE was — and still is — one of the boldest, most widespread noncooperation campaigns seen in the United States in a long time.
But this remarkable resistance is just one strand of the extraordinary response that erupted against the policies coming out of the Oval Office.
Thousands protested on March 8, International Women’s Day, in Montpelier, Vermont. (50501VT/Timothy Santimore)
It’s been a long six weeks since Donald Trump was sworn into office amid a Nazi salute and a machine-gun barrage of 89 executive orders. We’ve been struggling for our lives, our country and our world ever since.
From boycotts to mass noncompliance to street demonstrations, the response to the Trump administration’s policies has consisted of an impressive range of nonviolent tactics.
More than just outraged protests, people are thwarting raids, refusing to obey unjust orders, standing up to bully politics and taking risks to do the right thing. The resistance is diverse, multi-stranded and feisty — and some of it is working. It has forced Trump to reverse course or push the brakes on numerous issues, including his original plan for 25 percent tariffs, funding freeze, federal worker buyout deal, firing USDA and CFPB workers, and more.
And while there have been a deluge of unjust policies coming out of the administration, the hundreds of thousands of people taking action are showing that resistance is not futile. In fact, it may be crucial. If your friends are sinking in defeatism and wondering if there’s any point in protesting, here’s a detailed look at the astonishing amount of resistance happening — and why it makes a difference if they join in.
First steps of resistance
On Inauguration Day, a fugue of stifling fear, defeatism and dread permeated the nation. But one brave minister — Rev. Mariann Budde, the first female Bishop of Washington, D.C. in the Episcopal Church — broke through that fear at the Inaugural Prayer Service by issuing a direct plea of compassion for immigrants, refugees and LGBTQ+ communities.
Rev. Budde’s open defiance — straight to Trump’s face, as he sat in the front row with his billionaire-backers directly behind him — unleashed the floodgates of popular courage. While Trump went on to sign 89 executive orders against DEIA policies, climate science, trans rights and more, people started posting alarmed comments on social media.
When it came to on-the-ground actions, however, a certain reluctance to get onto the streets seemed to pervade. People’s March rallies were held in 200 locations around the country, including 100,000 people in D.C., but they only turned out a fraction of their record-breaking 2017 counterparts. What’s more, when the first 50501 protests were announced — calling for 50 protests in 50 states on Feb. 5 — many activists on social media issued warnings not to attend, fearing round-ups, violence from Trump supporters and the kind of chaos that could provoke martial law.
Fortunately, thousands of protesters in cities across 47 states took to the streets anyway, winning an important early victory against fear.
Another set of early campaigns that shifted people from worry into action were the mischievous — and fierce — efforts to flood snitch lines (the hotlines and emails set up by the federal government to receive reports of violations of Trump’s executive orders). These relatively safe actions offered a cross between expressing outrage and the satisfaction of overloading systems that targeted migrants, queer and trans individuals and DEIA policies. The hiring site for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, became another popular target. Each time someone submitted a crank response — like the script to “The Bee Movie” or Scrooge McDuck — the humor and defiance further emboldened resistance.
Thwarting ICE raids
In the first week of Trump’s second presidency, ICE raids started sweeping the nation, trying to round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Migrant communities had been preparing for this onslaught for months. Drawing on decades of resistance strategies, some businesses prepared routes of escape out back doors or private areas that ICE could not enter by law. Field workers in California used stay-at-home strikes to evade agents with up to 75-85 percent of the workforce not showing up.
In school districts like Los Angeles, teachers refused to let agents enter the grounds. Sanctuary cities like Chicago flatly denied any cooperation with ICE. Sanctuary churches defended their historic right to provide shelter to the oppressed. Meanwhile, Day Without Immigrants — a coordinated day of action against unfair immigration policies and deportations — held strikes and work closures in 120 cities across 40 states. Thousands blocked a major freeway in Los Angeles protesting deportations. Similar protests were held in San Diego, Dallas, Houston and Olympia. Meanwhile, Los Angeles students walked out of class for five days straight to protest ICE raids. Student walkouts also occurred in Bakersfield, Sacramento and Redwood City.
Opposition to mass deportations also spanned beyond U.S. borders, as Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Honduras all coordinated resistance efforts. Pope Francis wrote a sweeping letter to U.S. bishops denouncing Trump’s mass deportation plans and Vice President JD Vance’s use of Catholic theology to justify the crackdown. Even the IRS got involved, refusing to hand over the personal data of 700,000 individuals, as Homeland Security tried to find the addresses of undocumented immigrants. Know Your Rights trainings erupted, training thousands of people in how to stop agents at the door. This was so effective that Tom Homan, Trump’s so-called border czar, complained that the legal trainings were “making it very difficult” to deport people.
The immigration raids were a chilling sign that Trump 2.0 fully intends to follow through on some of its cruel promises. The resistance to them is sending a clear message: Just because he wants to do something doesn’t mean we’ll let him. The continued opposition to ICE was — and still is — one of the boldest, most widespread noncooperation campaigns seen in the United States in a long time.
But this remarkable resistance is just one strand of the extraordinary response that erupted against the policies coming out of the Oval Office.
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