Nationwide July 4 Protests Target Trump Budget Bill and ICE Raids

Independence Day celebrations were punctuated by a wave of anti-Trump demonstrations across the United States, with organisers scheduling more than 100 “Free America” and “No Kings” events from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. Protesters denounced the president’s newly passed $4.5 trillion “Big Beautiful Bill,” which extends tax cuts for high-income households, reduces Medicaid and SNAP spending, and adds an estimated $150 billion for immigration enforcement. In Los Angeles, hundreds of activists marched on a 1.5-mile downtown route past City Hall and the federal building, waving American and Mexican flags and chanting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that have swept the region since early June. U.S. Marines guarded the courthouse, and Department of Homeland Security agents moved into the crowd to clear a blocked federal vehicle, but the rally remained largely peaceful. The largest East-Coast mobilisation unfolded in Washington, DC, where demonstrators carrying Antifa banners and signs reading “86-47” trekked toward the White House, chanting "Trump must go now." The action followed last month’s “No Kings” march and coincided with heightened security around federal facilities. In New York City, roughly 75 activists lay down in a bus lane opposite Trump Tower to stage a "die-in" they said symbolised deaths that could result from Medicaid cuts. Similar die-ins were held outside Senator John Cornyn’s office in Austin, while about 150 people gathered in Dallas’s Main Street Garden for a Constitution-themed rally that doubled as a community festival. Some predominantly Latino communities in Southern California cancelled traditional 4 July fireworks over fears of immigration raids, underscoring the climate that fuelled the protests. Although attendance varied by city, organisers said the coordinated actions aimed to sustain pressure on the administration as the president prepared to sign the sweeping budget bill.