The eastern half of Washington state – long held as a remaining bastion of conservatism in a state hard-coded blue since the turn of the 21st century – was rocked twice last week by protests turned violent. Those protests, taking place Wednesday, June 11 and Saturday, June 14, took aim at ICE and the current presidential term of Donald Trump respectively.
Downtown Spokane, WA – the east side of the state’s largest city – provided the epicenter for both protests, seeing unruly and violent extremists clashing with Spokane PD on more than one occasion.
What do these protests hold in common? And how are they connected to a larger story?
The first of the two protests came somewhat unexpectedly, with protestors gathering at the ICE facility in Spokane Thursday. Their presence at the facility was preceded by the detainment earlier that day of Cesar Alvarez Perez and another asylum seeker Joswar Rodriguez Torres by ICE agents.
According to reports, both men were given legal status into the country under the Venezuelan Humanitarian Parole Program, which gave paroled leave to enter the country with active work visas. The program has been ended by the Trump administration, though it is currently tied up in the courts.
Due to the pending status of the program, work visas were not renewed for several thousand previously legal migrants, with warnings sent that they would need to evacuate the country prior to the change in their visa status.
In response to the arrests, former Spokane council member Ben Stuckart sent out messages on social media calling on supporters of his and of unregulated immigration, to gather outside of the ICE office and demand the release of the two men. For his part, Stuckart (who completed two terms as a city council member before losing the mayoral race in 2019), had been listed as the “legal” guardian for Alvarez Perez under the classification for Special Immigrant Juveniles.
The wrinkle conveniently overlooked by the Spokesman Review – as well as other media outlets – concerning Stuckart’s involvement in the proceedings with ICE was two-fold. First, is that Alvarez Perez no longer qualified as an SIJ, being aged 21 (that classification applied to applicants under 21). Second, the Trump administration removed special status from those immigrants who no longer had valid visas.
Regardless of these aspects, Stuckart’s call was answered initially by 20 protestors who showed up in the early afternoon. That crowd grew to roughly 100 by late afternoon and what started with chants and signs, quickly escalated.
Justice Forral and Erin Lang, both member of local activist organizations in Spokane, added to the chaos by creating a barrier of Lime scooters and bicycles at an entry point, and also coordinated to have a red van block the exit of the ICE transport vehicle from the facility.
For these actions, Forral and Lang were both arrested, as was Stuckart, headlining a total 34 arrests for the incident. Forral and Lang have been charged with Washington state felonies of wrongful imprisonment (spawning from blocking the transport vehicle) and unlawful gathering (due to the barricade they created).
In late afternoon, the protestors were found damaging property, including slashing the tires of the ICE vehicle, and refused to disperse despite police commands. The result was a chaotic evening that resulted in a state of emergency being ordered by Mayor Lisa Brown, as well as a 9:30 p.m.curfew for downtown Spokane.
“The vast majority were peaceful, expressing their viewpoints as they have every right to do and compliant with officers,” Brown told reporters at her press conference following the protest. “There’s serious concerns about federal policies. We want people to feel free to express those concerns and we want to keep everyone safe.”
“No Kings”
Three days later, on Saturday, June 14, it was not a sparse crowd of a hundred that gathered in Spokane, but thousands in the nationwide (and in some cases, international) coordinated protest against President Trump.
Per the organization’s webpage, the No Kings protest on that day was to activate people against Trump’s flag day demonstration.
No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance. From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we’re taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like.
We’re not gathering to feed his ego. We’re building a movement that leaves him behind.
The flag doesn’t belong to President Trump. It belongs to us. We’re not watching history happen. We’re making it.
On June 14th, we’re showing up everywhere he isn’t—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings.
Activists gathered in Spokane – one of seven cities in Washington where such demonstrations were being held – early in the afternoon, continuing on until 5:30 p.m. officially. The numbers swelled over 10,000 at one point, per the Spokesman Review, drawing additional support from the local pride event as well.
That, however, was not the end of the evening, as protesters refused to abate from Spokane Falls Boulevard past 9 p.m. At that time, local law enforcement officers ordered the crowds to disband and reopen the main thoroughfare to traffic.
The crowds refused, resulting in pepper balls and smoke canisters being disbursed into the mob. The ensuing confrontations between protestors and police led to 11 arrests for crimes ranging between failure to disburse and malicious mischief.
To say that this kind of activism is unusual for Spokane would be only partially true. Spokane has a long-held history of progressive activism, including 30+ years hosting a pride parade/event. Moreover, Spokane staged several BLM protests and saw antifa and rioters causing mass violence, hysteria and looting in the 2020 “summer of love”.
But it is the last 5-10 years that have been particularly staggering, and even galling for a historically conservative populace in Eastern Washington.
A city and county that have historically voted for conservative values – to the tune of 10-point victories at the polls in most races – has nonetheless seen those values eroded slowly over time. Especially in the urban center of downtown Spokane.
Since 2020, Spokane protests and events have exponentially grown in size and frequency.
Unsurprisingly, it was the election prior to 2020 (in November of 2019) that saw Spokane shift from a majority conservative/moderate city council to an unquestionably progressive majority. Spokane still elected Nadine Woodward – a local TV personality – as an ostensibly conservative mayor.
But the mayoral career of Woodward proved her to be a moderate-to-liberal presence in city hall, as she caved over and over to progressive pushes into public policy. The result was an increasing imbalance in the council makeup over the last four years and Spokane’s first true progressive mayor, Lisa Brown, winning the position in 2024.
All of this transformation comes at a price.
Whereas once barely 100 would gather to support the abomination of homosexuality and the only civic pride on display were the communal gatherings of Hoopfest and Bloomsday, thousands now gather for events supporting progressive ideals.
More than that, since 2020, Spokane’s protests have become wildly more violent and contentious. There have been rampant acts of vandalism, violence and looting that have gone unchecked, while young conservatives have faced ostracization and arrest for creating tire marks in Spokane’s pride mural near Riverpark Square.
This month’s acts of violent defiance represent another step in the wrong direction for the Lilac City. The ease with which these events can be cobbled together via social media is truly striking. More than that, there have been former city council members and community leaders in Spokane calling for acts of violence and disruption of the city they once claimed to serve.
Only one locale in all of Eastern Washington played host to a No Kings protest this year. Likewise, the rampant rise of well-funded, well-coordinated organizations to push and promote Marxist, progressive, and radical ideologies.
Spokane’s conservative banner is swiftly being overrun, producing a dark-blue stain in a red county. The people must shift the narrative and stand for truth. A city sadly known for inactivity and dispassion is being chivvied into compliance by radical powers. If for nothing else, the townsfolk need to see they are about to lose their city and their way of life, and be ready to fight for both.
