In honor of Presidents Day, on and around the New Mexico State University campus, crowds erupted with protest, prayer, and rallying on Feb. 16.
Students and community members who support and oppose the Trump Administration and current Department of Homeland Security (DHS) actions gathered to voice their opinions and create a community conversation.
This gathering was sparked by a pro-Trump rally organized by Emmanuel Ramos, a member of New Mexico Freedom Convoy.
This President’s Day rally was held at the Corbett Center Student Union, an area Ramos said he coordinated with the necessary people from campus to host.
“I chose this location because this is where everybody’s at, it’s like the hub,” Ramos said. “What better place?”
Ramos was joined by three additional supporters, who asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about being followed or facing retaliation. NMSU College Republicans President Jonah Arzapalo also attended alongside Ramos.
“This campus has a lot of beliefs, and we’re here to show there are other people, you can express what you believe peacefully,” Ramos said.
Ramos told KRWG News22 they expected around 50 people, but other potential attendees were nervous about the backlash they’d received from other groups.
Despite those concerns, Arzapalo said the College Republicans aim to encourage people to vote and foster conversation from different perspectives.
“The premise was to come pray,” Arzapalo said. “I think there’s a lot wrong with the country that can certainly be fixed, but at least from our point of view, that starts with prayer.”
Arzapalo recognized religious freedom as part of the country’s foundation. He said the common ground amongst diverse beliefs is wishing the best for the country, and that will be the force to unify the public.
Along with those goals, the student said he would like to collaborate with College Democrats to begin fostering conversations on campus to find common ground and create dialogue.
An attendee of the rally who graduated from NMSU in 2023 said he was present to represent his love for President Trump and America freely.
“Donald Trump is an amazing president,” he said. “He taught us what it means to not be afraid to shine our flags out.”
When asked for details regarding how other groups might fear shining out their flags the attendee responded, “I don’t follow that, I just follow my beliefs.”
The rally began as a four-person group standing together and praying for President Trump, and quickly turned into a peaceful standoff between the two sides. As more students opposing the rally approached, the pro-Trump group gathered the attention of students who began to protest in opposition.
“We started out standing here, and sort of this barrier kind of automatically was drawn between the two groups. I think as soon as that barrier comes up, there can’t be actual conversation,” Arzapalo said. “I’m sure there are more things that we agree about, we can’t figure out what that is if that barrier is automatically put up.”
Because the Pro Trump Rally was hosted by an off-campus organization, counter protesters shouted, “Whose campus? Our campus!”
To ensure the rally remained peaceful, students with experience in managing protest crowds, like Tristen Tamez, attended the rally in yellow vests.
“I am glad that students have turned out and that it has, knock on wood, remained peaceful,” Tamez said. “I just want everyone to be safe, and I don’t want anyone to be arrested.”
On the sidelines, separate from the rally, student organizations such as PIKE, a fraternity chapter, were tabling during the rally.
“Seeing all the students, all our fellow student body here, we feel like we should come support,” said Mauricio Zambarano, a PIKE member.
While Arzapalo argued this rally was an effort to circulate discourse, Zambarano, along with fraternity brothers Manny Bustillos and Nathan Gonzalez, said they didn’t believe the rally was fostering conversation. They claimed the pro-Trump rally attendees weren’t engaging or conversing with the opposing crowd, and some were covering their faces.
They also expressed concerns that those who were yelling insults at the pro-Trump attendees were also being counterproductive and were potentially harming the greater community movement.
“If you look around the student body, no one here is in a mask trying to hide their face, no one here is in a flag trying to hide who they are,” Zambarano said. “Everyone’s here standing for what they believe in except them.”
Meanwhile, across from campus in front of the Weck’s on University Ave., Indivisible Las Cruces, a national organization dedicated to fighting violence and hate, protested the pro-Trump rally at CCSU.
The group chose to stand across from campus to show literal and physical opposition to the rally across the street. The group said they come together every Saturday to protest the recent acts of the Trump administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“[It’s important to protest] because we are older, because we are white, because we are female, we need to stand up,” Alice Benjamin, an Indivisible member, said.
Cathy L, another indivisible member, was in attendance. Cathy did not want to share her full last name.
Cathy said that many of the people who are active with the Indivisible chapter are retired, giving them the ability to protest consistently.
“If enough people protest, we will change the nature of this government,” Cathy said.
While the organization is not part of NMSU and did not hold its protest on campus, an NMSU football player, Jerry Lydiatt, confronted the protesters.
Lydiatt confronted the Indivisible members about the ethicality of ICE and told the crowd that ICE is targeting people who are giving out fentanyl. He then asked where the protesters were when President Barack Obama deported immigrants.
The indivisible members eventually disengaged, saying, “Don’t feed the troll.”
While the groups were separate, both exercised their constitutional right to free speech and sparked conversation in the NMSU and Las Cruces community. Presidents Day was filled with discourse, peaceful protesting, and continued curiosity, passion, and buzz.
