Hands Off: Hundreds gather at Sterling’s Grandon Civic Center to protest Trump administration

STERLING — More than 500 people gathered in front of Sterling’s Grandon Civic Center during a Hands Off rally Saturday to protest the Trump administration.

“I am so excited to know that people in the Sauk Valley area truly care about this country, and they’re willing to come out and tell the world,” Sarah Bingaman said. “Those who are not out today should be ashamed of themselves. Everyone should be out protesting today.”

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Protestors gather in front of the Grandon Civic Center and the post office on Saturday, April 5, in Sterling, to voice concerns over President Donald Trump and his administration. (Brandon Clark)

Many in the crowd said they were worried the recent bevy of funding cuts, primarily fueled by claims of waste and fraud discovered by DOGE head Elon Musk, will soon make its way to their Social Security and Medicare benefits.

In his first speech to Congress on March 4, Trump said his administration was “identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors.”

“Bringing DOGE in to let this man, who’s not elected, do anything he wants and destroy what we have is absolutely insane,” protestor Joan Lemme said. “I think he’s trying to destroy our democracy.”

Among the crowd were several local educators who came to share their fears over Trump’s promise to dismantle the Department of Education. On March 20, Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Secretary of Education “to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states.”

Robin Boerjan is a retired educator who taught at Riverdale and East Coloma schools. She said teachers and schools already face regular financial challenges and any further cuts would be “devastating.”

“I think it’s going to hurt the most disadvantaged people, special education and class sizes,” Boerjan said. “There’s no doubt that we can make changes, that cuts can be made somewhere, but I think we need to be careful about what we’re cutting to make sure that doesn’t affect our students.”

Lori Meifel is retired and depends on Social Security to live. She is worried Trump’s claims of probable fraud in the program could eventually mean she will have less money to make it through the month.

“I’ve worked and paid into this since I was 16,” Meifel said. “I worked at National Manufacturing for 33 years and the hospital for eight, and my Social Security is $1,500 and that was an increase.”

Saturday’s rally was one of several recent protests in Sterling against the Trump administration. Bingaman said that on Saturday, April 12, U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, will be holding a town hall in Dixon to talk about “what can be done to protect our democracy.”