A smattering of Hyde Park residents came out on Saturday to protest the ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and several other groups from around the world.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that the Trump Administration could legally end TPS, and since then, more and more populations have had their protected status revoked. Hundreds of thousands of formerly protected immigrants now face the threat of deportation.

Several residents held signs protesting the move by the federal government at Cleary Square, and drivers honked, seemingly in support, several times a minute.

“We’re out here because we’re scared,” said resident Maggie Eqwing, who came out with her grand daughtergranddaughter. “It’s happening here… Have you seen what’s happening in Burlington? Those are true stories, and it’s right out of Nazi Germany.”

Resident Dan Farncoff said he felt Trump is intent on “destroying the country from within.”

“And nobody seems to know why he’s doing it,” he said. “I’m out here just trying to resist him in any way possible with my neighbors.”

“There’s a 15 percent approval rating for Trump right now, so it says to me most people aren’t supporting him, but it’s difficult to feel that at the local level you can have an impact on the policies of our country,” said resident and Hyde Park Neighborhood Association President Mimi Turchinetz. “And one of the policies of this country is to kidnap and disappear people. It’s fascist, authoritarian government and we’re here to basically say, shut down Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). They’re an internal terrorist organization. They’re terrorizing individuals, our friends and our neighbors in the country. We have to speak out.”

Turchinetz said the current state of immigration in the United States is appalling.

“We have concentration camps, people are dying in them, they’re not giving people the healthcare they need, and we know ICE has murdered two U.S. citizens in cold blood,” she said. “It’s a disaster.”

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Resident and Fairmount Hill Neighborhood Association member Joseph Smith said they have held this protest before, with some better turnout. But he said it’s important to show up, even when others can’t or won’t.

“We’re here to support the immigrants we have here in Hyde Park, who are our neighbors and friends, in light of the ICE strategies and the Trump Administration,” he said. “We’re here because we care about them.”

Resident Eileen Velez echoed Smith’s statement.

“So many of our neighbors are losing TPS, and so many medical personnel who were from Haiti took care of my husband for so many years,” she said. “I don’t want to see them lose their ability to stay here or work. They’ve raised families, they started businesses, and I think it’s outrageous. It’s criminal. It’s targeting groups of people, and not other groups of people.”

Velez said it wasn’t always easy for her to come out here.

“I’ve always been a black sheep in my family, politically,” she said. “Boston Irish Catholic, Democrat, and so since I’ve been a kid I’ve been political, and I think it’s really important here to support my neighbors. I see them vote, I’m a poll worker and they come with their passports, which I don’t think is good. They’re citizens, and I know how hard and how expensive it is to become a citizen in this country. So yeah, I’m here to help them abolish ICE.”