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'Constitutional Vandalism': Pressley Joins Protest Against Trump's Emergency Declaration

BOSTON (CBS) -- Protesters were out on Presidents Day, in Boston and across the country, using the holiday to rally against President Donald Trump. Holding signs, singing songs and chanting "enough is enough," dozens gathered at a cold and snowy Harvard Square in Cambridge to protest President Trump's declaration of national emergency to build a border wall.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley joined the group of protesters calling President Trump's declaration fake. "This is a fake emergency, this is constitutional vandalism," Pressley said.

Ayanna Pressley Cambridge Protest
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley joined the crowd in the national emergency protest. (WBZ-TV)

During the rally there was at least one President Trump supporter. "Do you think I'm ashamed to support the president? Now that's not the case ma'am," the man said.

On the other hand, Bill Sisco wore his "Not My President" pin. He is a disabled Vietnam veteran. "I don't believe that, like everybody else, a border wall is going to stop anything that is going on here," Sisco said. "It's just for his big ego."

Trump protest
A large crowd protesting Trump's national emergency declaration. (WBZ-TV)

But Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson says he stands by President Trump's emergency declaration. He has been involved with immigration reform for the past 20 years and has visited the border three times. "A national emergency that he declared is absolutely in order since Congress has continued to use this issue as a political football rather than deal with the realities that represent the interests of the people of this country," Hodgson said.

Trump Sign
A sign in the crowd read "Trump is the emergency." (WBZ-TV)

Pressley says there is a crisis going on in America but it's not the border wall. "The real emergency is a humanitarian crisis at our border, the real emergency is that Flint still does not have clean water," Pressley said.

The Harvard Square protest was followed by many across the country, including another one at the JFK federal building in Boston.

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