Despite Cold, 200 Attend Pro-Trump Rally in Middletown Saturday

MIDDLETOWN, NJ - The temperature kept dropping, but they just kept coming. An estimated 200 people stood in bitterly cold wind outside the Middletown ShopRite plaza Saturday, proudly showing their support for President Donald Trump.

"What's that rally for?" asked a woman, pulling out of the parking lot. "Oh, it's pro Trump? Awesome! Sign me up!"

Indeed, many cars on Rt. 35 and Harmony Road honked non-stop as they drove past.

Four counterprotesters stood across Harmony Road. One held a sign that read "I'm not Putin up with this." There was a very brief scuffle between a few Trump supporters and a single counterprotester, as they got into a heated, shouting argument. But Middletown police quickly intervened and led the counterprotester off the sidewalk. Nobody was allowed to stand on the sidewalk during the rally; protesters were confined to the grass.

Immigration, support for the wall, curbing welfare abuse and increasing jobs were all passionate topics among attendees. Some in the crowd were born elsewhere and said they supported Trump's tough stance on illegal immigration.

"I'm from the Philippines and I married my husband. He's a U.S. Marine. I legally entered America," said Antoinette Kenny, 50, who lives in Middletown. "Me and my husband, we went through the immigration process; we did all the paperwork. I got my certificate. You have to come here legally. If they want to come here, come here legally."

Kenny said she loves "everything" Trump says. "I love Trump!" she screamed with joy.

Trump won Middletown Township, NJ in the 2016 presidential election by a clear margin, receiving 21,267 votes compared to 12,979 for Hillary Clinton, according to voting records from the Monmouth County clerk's office. About 73 percent of the 49,510 registered voters in Middletown Township voted in total.

Carla Spratt, who drove to the rally from Little Falls, is from Peru originally. "I am an American citizen and I came legally. My father brought me here and he was a legal citizen. I have sympathy for people, but they have to apply to come the legal way. That's just the bottom line."

Her husband, Matt Spratt, wearing a red "Make America Great Again" trucker hat, said he supports a path to citizenship for some immigrants who are here illegally — provided they have never been arrested.

"If people come here and they never broke the law, and work hard and stuff like that, they should have a path to citizenship. Even if they came illegally," he said. "If you're here, you're working, you're trying to better yourself, you're not breaking the laws of this country, I don't have a problem with that. As long as you're contributing to society."

But he also said he's seen co-workers in the construction industry suffer due to an influx of cheap immigrant labor.

"I know a lot of people, especially in the construction field, illegal immigrants get hired for $8, $10 an hour, and then you have guys here, American citizens, that are losing jobs left and right to people like that," he said.

Two friends who graduated from Holmdel High School were in the crowd. Nicholas King, 22, said he became a Trump supporter in November while living in Orlando; his apartment was robbed and he was shot by the men who did it. They were illegal immigrants, he said.

"I was going to school down there, I was working. I was doing everything I'm supposed to do," said King. "But then I had these guys who lived next door come to my apartment at 12 o'clock at night and try to rob me. I lived in a really bad neighborhood and I guess I was an easy target."

He showed Patch where he was shot in the chest. "I think every day how lucky I am. The doctor told me take your pinkie, and that's how far it was from my heart."

"It's kind of saddening, but the reason I became a Trump supporter is because I got shot. It totally swayed me," he said. "Also, there were a lot of people in that apartment complex who were getting welfare. They weren't working. They weren't making an effort to work. They were the ones selling weed on the corner. I was working, I was going to school. And they called me a square."

"I'm half black, half white so I had to deal with both sides of my family," he continued. "When I told my African-American side of my family that I voted for Trump, they were pretty upset with me. But I told them they can mind their own business, because if you didn't vote, you didn't make a difference. A lot of them didn't vote for anyone."

Billy Rath, 21, his friend, said he thinks rumors of Trump's Russia ties are exaggerated.

"I think they're blowing it out of proportion, the Democrats, trying to make those stories up. Yeah, there was some communication, I agree, but I don't think it was that deep. That whole thing with Pence and the email, it's not as bad as what Hillary was doing with her private email servers."

The crowd shouted "USA!, USA!" Many there despised the notion of sanctuary cities and held signs to that effect. Red Bank recently debated becoming a sanctuary city.

"They're breaking the law. Drug cartels and so on can hide people there. You should be able to go after them, no matter where they're at," said Debbie McGuinn, who lives in Woodbridge Township. She came to the protest with her husband, Edward. McGuinn added, however, that she supported a lottery to give current immigrants here citizenship.

"There's a lot of hard-working immigrants, I'll give you that. But all we ask is come here legally. Don't take handouts. I don't mind helping them. Let them show that they will do things the right way. If you're hard working and you came here because you believe in America, then do it the right way."

Another protester, Rimma Yakobovich, 56, from Princeton Junction, carried a hot pink sign that said "Women for Trump." She said his comments about women did not bother her in the least.

"Oh please, this comment did not worry me at all. This guy was talking in a room with another guy, it should not have been made public. It's all guys talking," she said. "Talk is different than action. In his companies most of the women have great positions and get paid equally. Actions speak louder than words. And none of the women who accused him of groping brought evidence. I support Trump 100%. I am so happy that he won."

All photos, video and reporting done by Carly Baldwin/Patch