“Enough is enough”

Bad weather did not deter more than 1,000 people from attending a “Hand Off!” protest in Princeton against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Families, children, adults, students, local officials and organizations all gathered together at Hinds Plaza in Princeton holding up signs and voicing chants during a “Hands Off!” National Day of Action on April 5.

Princeton’s protest joined protests across the state and more than 1,200 nationally as frustrations and anger were voiced against the policies of the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s efforts with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in cuts to federal programs and personnel.

“It’s Hands Off our Medicare, Hands Off our Social Security, Hands Off Our Rights, and most importantly Hands Off Our People,” said Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, an immigration coalition fighting to empower and protect immigrants.

“Yes, that means immigrants, that means our students, that means our workers, here in New Jersey that means our farm workers and folks that are putting food on the table for us even when they don’t have the paperwork, even in the face of attack from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and immigration enforcement. Hands Off!”

The crowd filled Hinds Plaza and stretched across Witherspoon Street as each speaker delivered their messages and urged action to those in attendance.

“Trans rights are human rights, immigrant rights are human rights, clean water and clean air are basic human rights, and we are here to say that if Congress won’t stand up, if the Republicans in Congress won’t stand up then we will insist on Hands Off,” New Jersey State Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-16) said.

“Enough is enough…we refuse to let them go after freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of love. We refuse to let them go after the fourth amendment and the 14th amendment. We refuse to let them take people off the streets without due process.”

Signs held by those demonstrating against the president and Musk displayed messages that included – “Down with DOGE”, “No Kings in a Democracy”, “We Persist to Resist”, “Hands Off Social Security, Hands Off Medicare, Hands Off Medicaid” and “Hands Off Cancer Research, Hands Off the Courts, Hands Off Free Speech”.

People held not only signs but together chanted – “Hands Off New Jersey”, “Enough is Enough”, “Hands Off”, and “Pay Their Share” – as speakers delivered remarks throughout the afternoon event.

“I am woman, hear me roar. I am smart, I am able, I am capable, I can make decisions for my own body. Hands Off my body,” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) said, adding that there are millions in the state who need their social security checks, that people need to be able to have Medicare when they need it, and families need to be able to receive supplemental food or other income resources.

“This is the most corrupt and incompetent administration in my lifetime. This administration chooses to take very important issues and resources away from those who really need them so they can make their greedy folks richer.”

Watson Coleman noted that there are two million people on Medicaid.

“That is where children get their healthcare, that is where folks who are in nursing homes get to be able to stay, that is where those of a certain income have access to healthcare,” she said.

Princeton resident Barbara Prince said everything has concerned her with the current administration.

“I hope that people are welcoming to other people’s points of view,” she said. “We need to be welcoming to Republicans. This is crazy, nothing is getting done.”

Holding a handmade sign with a message – “Protect Trans Rights” – Emi DeLia had traveled with family from Mount Holly to attend the Hands Off! protest in Princeton.

“I am a non-binary queer person, and I want me and my fellow queer people to be safe and have thriving lives,” DeLia said. “After today, I want to make some difference in the state governments because they are going to be the ones protecting us and upholding the pro-trans laws and that they hear our voices and are on our side.”

Derek DeLia, Emi’s father, noted that he wanted to convey that a lot of people do not approve of what is occurring with the new administration and attended to voice his concerns alongside others.

“We really want people in government to do something about this because it is not normal, it is not constitutional, the cruelty is unacceptable, and we want to make our voices known so people hear us,” he said, adding that they were concerned with a second Trump administration coming in and it has turned out worse than they thought.

“It is really encouraging to see so many people out here, to see so many signs covering so many issues and so much going on and you need to protest against all of it because it is not right.”

Andy Hall, a student at Princeton Theological Seminary and presbyterian pastor, who is also an immigration attorney, said he attended the protest because of the president’s dismantling of immigration law precedents.

“Immigrants’ rights are human rights,” he said. “What they can do to immigrants by disappearing people off the street and sending them to an El Salvadoran gulag with no semblance of due process doesn’t just stop with immigrants it puts all of us at the same risk.

“I want to see after today people standing up for human rights, liberty, justice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the Constitution.”