A group of about 40 people protested the policies of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Shreveport-Bossier and President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Monroe, where Johnson spoke to a Chamber of Commerce audience at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
The protesters criticized the passage of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," a centerpiece of Trump's tax and spending agenda, demanded the release of details from the Justice Department's investigation of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
"I don't like what I'm seeing in this country," protester Rowan Riverstone of Farmerville said in an interview with USA Today Network. "I don't like seeing people (immigrants) rounded up and put in what I consider concentration camps. I have to stand up."
Riverstone is one of the leaders of North Louisiana Indivisible, the group that organized the protest.
Protesters held up signs calling Trump's budget bill the "Big Beautiful Lie."
"(The bill) takes away food from children and cuts Medicaid," Rowan said. "Our hospital in Farmerville is at risk of closing."
But Johnson was mostly well-received by thousands of constituents at events with stops in Ruston, Monroe and later Bossier City as the speaker toured his Louisiana 4th Congressional District during the House's summer recess.
More: Speaker Mike Johnson on Big Beautiful Bill, Epstein, mid-term elections and Fed Chair Powell
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Here's why protesters said they are upset with Speaker Mike Johnson
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