Nearly 150 people gathered outside La Grange Village Hall on Feb. 1, in a public display of displeasure over President Donald Trump’s executive order. It barred the entry of individuals from multiple predominately Muslim countries for 90 days and banning the travel of people from Syria indefinitely.

The protest, which started at around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 and extended about an hour, attracted a much younger crowd, with many children being taken to the “family friendly” protest by their parents. They ran around the premises waving signs professing their support of refugees.

“I think it is really important to act locally and think globally,” Kevin Cahill ‘87 said. Cahill came to the protest with sign saying “Dump Trump” on it, a sign he made with his children. “I think it is important we show our views here in La Grange and show it’s not just a downtown Chicago thing.”

Meghan Murray, a La Grange Park resident who helped organize the event with the group Indivisible La Grange and La Grange Park, said that even if the event is nothing compared to other recent protests, it is more productive than many other means of expressing their displeasure with Trump’s decisions.

“I think that to gather in protest is a way to make your views known to your community in a very public way,” Murray said. “To me, it’s better than spurting off your opinion on social media, and I think that this is a way to make known common concern in the neighborhood.”

While the Trump administration has taken steps back, allowing people from the banned countries who hold green cards (people approved to live in the U.S. for an extended period of time) to not be included in ban, the anger and sadness people have over the ban hasn’t been placated.

“I was really sad [when I heard about the executive order] because almost every single person here is an immigrant,” Greta Molek ‘20 said.

Molek came to the event with three other of her fellow LT freshmen: Rheta Nelson, Jaden Owney and Molly Hayes. The four held signs with slogans with pro-refugee slogans on them, one saying “hate has no home here” and a white board with “we welcome refugees here” written in all caps.

And despite the protest paling in comparison to some of the downtown events, Hayes said that the protest still signals to the rest of the world that many people don’t support Trump’s controversial opinions.

“I think it will have an impact. If we didn’t protest, it would be showing people around the world that we think his actions are OK, while many of us don’t,” Hayes said. “I didn’t think many people would come because it was in such short notice, but I’m glad people came to show their support.”