(NewsNation) — More than 1,600 protests are planned across the country Thursday against President Donald Trump’s policies, including mass deportation efforts and proposed Medicaid cuts.
The events are part of a nationwide day of action dubbed “Good Trouble Lives On,” in honor of the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Demonstrations are expected to take place at courthouses, along streets and in other public spaces. Organizers have urged participants to remain peaceful.
Public Citizen, a nonprofit organization known for its efforts to counter corporate influence, is among the coalition of groups leading the protests.
Chicago will serve as the flagship city for the day of protest. Demonstrators are expected to rally downtown Thursday afternoon, culminating in a candlelight vigil to honor Lewis.
Major protests are planned in Atlanta and St. Louis, as well as Oakland, California, and Annapolis, Maryland.
Protesting Trump’s ICE, Medicaid policies
Much of the pushback in Trump’s second term has focused on immigration enforcement.
Last week, protesters clashed with federal authorities during mass arrests at two marijuana farms in Southern California. One farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof during a raid.
Those raids followed Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to support immigration operations in Los Angeles and protect federal buildings in the wake of protests there. Thousands marched in Los Angeles on June 8, and days later, millions participated in “No Kings” protests from New York to San Francisco. Many demonstrators had labeled Trump as a dictator and a “would-be king.”
Honoring civil rights leader John Lewis
Lewis was first elected to Congress in 1986. He died in 2020 at the age of 80 following an advanced pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
He was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1965, a 25-year-old Lewis led some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was beaten by police, suffering a skull fracture.
Within days, King led more marches in the state, and President Lyndon Johnson pressed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that later became law.
“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America,” Lewis said in 2020 while commemorating the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.