Every Friday between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning, rain or shine, a small crowd gathers on the median at Orange Avenue and Third Street, holding up signs with messages like “Hands Off our Democracy,” “ICE Out,” and “Resist.” They come by bike, they come by car and they come by foot. But they all come for the same reason: to protest actions taken by the Trump administration.
“I’m here because I’m really worried about our democracy and our country, and I just felt like this was really something I could do that wasn’t too hard,” said Coronado resident Jean Seager, who started the weekly protests on Oct. 31, 2025. “I wanted to give people an opportunity to express themselves.”
Seager, who’s lived on the island for 50 years, says the protests draw a range of Coronado residents, from high school students to retirees like herself. She said the first protest had about 15 people, and she counted 35 people on Jan. 16.
The protests take place as military personnel drive up Third Street toward Naval Air Station North Island. Last Friday, many drivers honked and waved, while one man stuck up his middle finger at the crowd.
Many of the protestors share concerns about the recent wave of ICE raids. Coronado resident Kirby Barnum, who attended the protest with her son, Boone, said she’s deeply concerned about tactics ICE is using in cities like Minneapolis.
“How can ICE be in a city deploying tear gas on innocent citizens, and yanking them out of cars, and shooting a woman in the face? And there’s no accountability,” she said. “I’m scared the next step is martial law. Our lawmakers are failing us.”
The weekly Orange Avenue protests are among many taking place in neighborhoods across San Diego, including Encinitas, Escondido, Pacific Beach, Mira Mesa, Otay Mesa, El Cajon, and Del Mar. According to local media outlets, thousands of San Diegans participated in rallies following the January 7 death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross after an altercation in the streets of Minneapolis.
A Coronado resident who goes by the name Catherine said it’s important for the Coronado community to stand up and show solidarity with the rest of San Diego.
“I think that sometimes people think that Coronado is a funny little place that stands on its own, but I think it’s important for us to do what we can to show solidarity with the rest of the city,” she said. “What we are seeing is a breakdown in one of the fundamental values of this country, which is equal treatment under the law.”
Two veterans visiting from the Seattle area said they wanted to show up for the military community. It’s meaningful for them that they hold up their signs as military personnel head to the base, they said.
“It’s a sense of duty,” said a man named Bruce, a veteran who waved a large American flag. “Both my wife and I are veterans and we see what’s going on, and we’re trying to be the opposition to it. The crowds are getting bigger and we want to be a part of it.”
His wife, Paula, said that protests like this are effective, peaceful and necessary. She said that the current administration wants to invoke fascism in the U.S, and that is anti-democratic.
“We should all be out here,” she said. “We don’t attack people on the streets. We have freedom of speech.”
But not everyone agrees that the protests are good for the community. In social media posts, some community members called the gatherings “divisive” and “ridiculous” while others said they were confused about what exactly the group was protesting. Others said that the gatherings were a waste of time.
At Tuesday’s Coronado City Council meeting, resident Carolyn Rogerson said that while peaceful protests are allowable, citizens should not interfere with law enforcement operations.
“It’s one thing to stand on the sidewalk and protest, it’s another thing to try to physically block or vocally interfere with law-enforcement activity that’s taking place,” said Rogerson. “That’s not what we want to teach our children. That’s promoting anarchy.”
But Seager insists the weekly protests are peaceful.
“There’s nothing violent about what we’re doing,” said Seager. “We’re just trying to quietly protest and hope that someone is listening.”
Resident Holly Nappen agrees, and says there is power in the protests.
“If we don’t speak up, things are never going to change,” she said.
