From the Streets to the Courts, Resistance to Trump and Musk Grows — Several Thousand Protested in Downtown San Diego Sunday, Feb.9

From downtown San Diego to the streets of Los Angeles and across the country to countless other cities, to the stately rooms of dozens of federal courts, to the California legislature in California, to the halls of Congress and the Senate, the resistance to Donald Trump and Elon Musk is growing.

Just on Sunday, February 9, in San Diego several thousand people gathered at two different protests of Trump, Musk and his immigration policies.

In the Streets

Protesters began demonstrating at Waterfront Park Sunday, voicing “anger, fear, courage and resistance to hate, fascism, oligarchy and eroding civil rights,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported this morning, citing it was the third time this week alone that protesters against Trump had marched through downtown San Diego.The U-T:

“…people came from Point Loma, El Cajon, Vista and Santee. There were babies, high school students, families and retirees in a crowd that appeared to easily top 1,000 people.”

They were united in protesting two U.S. leaders — Elon Musk and President Donald Trump — and one scourge: fascism. “Hey hey, ho ho, Nazis have got to go,” attendees chanted. While the president was a primary focus, at least as much of crowd’s ire was directed at Musk, who is the appointed head of the new Department of Government Efficiency and whose directives have aimed to shrink the federal government and replace civil servants with new hires loyal to the current administration.

“The people will not bend down and let Elon Musk ravish the treasury and destroy regulations meant to protect the people,” Carla Severe told the crowd through a megaphone minutes before the march began. “Elon Musk is an enemy of the people.”

The event was not organized by one entity and was advertised through social media posts.

A second protest was on Sunday afternoon, beginning as a vigil organized by local churches that focused on protecting immigrants. It began at St. Joseph Cathedral downtown and “organizers estimated that around 1,500 showed up.”

Roman Catholic Cardinal Robert McElroy told the crowd:

“We must speak now and proclaim that this unholy misery and suffering, and yes, war of fear and terror, cannot be tolerated in our midst. We must speak up and say: Go no farther.”

The U-T:

The predominantly Latino crowd poured out of the cathedral and quickly filled a city block, then two, then three. Leaders warned the marchers not to engage with any counterprotesters, but most passersby downtown just watched the procession quietly. Several attendees carried signs reimagining Jesus, Mary and Joseph as modern day asylum seekers. One banner featured the Bible verse Leviticus 19:34: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.”

The throng stopped at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, a structure used by ICE. Elected leaders, including U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, joined church leaders on a stage near the entrance.

There have also been protests around San Diego County — in National City, Escondido and Vista – over the last week or so.

And also on Sunday and for the second straight week demonstrators gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest Trump’s immigration policies. During earlier protests, demonstrators had blocked portions of the 101 Freeway and prompted a massive response from local law enforcement. On the second day of rallies in LA, more than 200 people were detained by LAPD officers as their daylong protest continued late into the evening.

Across the nation, demonstrators have gathered in cities to protest the Trump administration’s early actions, decrying everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Protests have been in Philadelphia and at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond. Some protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Websites and accounts across social media issued calls for action, with messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.”

Demonstrators were in downtown Austin, Texas, in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park for a march to Georgia’s state Capitol, outside California’s Democratic-dominated Legislature in Sacramento, and in Denver, protests coincided with nearby operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and an unspecified number of people detained. Protesters in Phoenix chanted “deport Elon” and “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”

Thousands protested in St. Paul, Minnesota, and at Iowa’s Capitol in Des Moines — where protesters in the anti-Trump movement went inside to counter a registered event by the conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty, and shouted over the speakers in the rotunda for about 15 minutes before law enforcement pushed them outside, removing four demonstrators in handcuffs. In Alabama, several hundred people gathered outside the Statehouse to protest actions targeting LGBTQ+ people.

The Courts

The New York Times reports, that as the legal war over President Trump’s blizzard of executive actions is intensifying, there are new lawsuits and fresh rulings emerging now day and night.

Judges are already making their mark: As of Saturday, eight rulings have at least temporarily paused the president’s initiatives. Other cases have not been decided. No matter the initial rulings by judges, many decisions are likely to be appealed, and some might reach the Supreme Court in the months to come.

The dozens of lawsuits fall into four main categories: Immigration, Budget Freezes and Firings, Transgender Rights and Jan. 6 Investigators.

Much more to come in the following days and weeks.