Roughly 20 Tuscaloosa residents gathered outside the Richard Shelby Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Tuscaloosa on Monday to call for the removal of President Donald Trump from office during a ‘Not My President’ protest. The event was organized by Indivisible West Alabama, a local advocacy group.
Heather Love, media liaison for Indivisible West Alabama and one of the event’s organizers, said the group intentionally planned the event for Presidents’ Day.
“It’s Presidents’ Day, and we are out here to make it known how many of the things going on in our country are not what we expect from the office of the president,” she said. “The federal courthouse has been a good venue for us because it’s part of the people’s house that our tax dollars fund, and it’s a very visible spot here in Tuscaloosa where we get a lot of traffic.”.
Immigration enforcement was one of several issues raised by organizers and attendees during the protest. Love said members of Indivisible West Alabama and others in the local community have followed ICE-related developments closely, particularly those involving students at the University.
“We have had students who have been targeted by ICE,” Love said. “One of our own students was one of the first to be held in the detention center, and has since gone back to his home country. That happened last spring,” Love said.
In March 2025, former UA student Alireza Doroudi was detained by ICE at his home. He has since self-deported back to Iran. The University did not acknowledge Doroudi by name between the time of his arrest and self-deportation.
Attendees said they were motivated by concerns about federal programs, democratic institutions and what they described as a shift in national values.
Dan Fillmore, a retired engineer and NATO veteran, said he attended to stand alongside others who share his dissatisfaction with the presidency.
“His administration is eviscerating the veterans administration and care for veterans, something I happen to care a lot about, because I’m in their system,” he said. “I’m on 70% disability, and I’m wondering, is that even going to exist in months or years from now?”
Virginia McPhearson, a Tuscaloosa resident, said protesting and voting are ways she believes citizens can express disapproval of Trump.
“I’m against this presidency, and this is one of the only ways we can show disapproval, by coming out to protest,” she said.
Amanda Pusczek, a nurse running in the Democratic primary in Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, said she attended both as a candidate and as a local organizer, and believes protests provide space for community members to express their views while calling for broader political change.
“The broader results that I would hope to see in government are to impeach, remove and convict,” Pusczek said.
Miranda Hammonds, a social worker in Tuscaloosa, said she hopes demonstrations encourage civic engagement and conversation, even in a state that often votes conservatively.
“I hope that more people will see that things could be different, that this is what being American is,” she said. “That it’s not unpatriotic to want your country to be what it promises, that this is, in fact, patriotism.”
