US EditionHow Inflatable Costumes Ballooned at Anti-Trump Rallies
Inflatable animal costumes symbolize playful, nonviolent protest against ICE and Trump policies, spreading from Portland to multiple U.S. cities in recent weeks, organizers said.
- On October 2, 2025, a TikTok video showed a federal officer at Portland's ICE building spraying pepper spray into an inflatable frog worn by Seth Todd, sparking activists nationwide to wear inflatable costumes.
- Drawing on Portland's protest history, protesters wearing inflatable costumes disrupt President Donald Trump's claim of violent 'hate America' rallies, building on Occupy ICE, June 2018, and humor in protests.
- Protesters have used inflatable costumes to create viral, nonviolent encounters, with about 10 costumes dropped off outside Portland's ICE building, and Vandawalker noting, 'I think everybody just got the memo after Portland that this is something that we can do, and it's something that the right doesn't know what to make of'.
- The demonstrations have already led to the temporary closure of an ICE facility for about one week before federal officers cleared the site, with DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin calling the costumes 'a bizarre effort to obstruct ICE law enforcement.'
- Echoing past movements, the tactic draws on Occupy ICE and suffragette protest dress, while the Portland frog symbol and other inflatables multiply nationwide and Trump’s deployment plans remain uncertain.
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This plague of frogs tells us something hopeful about resistance to Trump
By Anya M. Galli Robertson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton When the center of protests against immigration enforcement switched recently to Charlotte, North Carolina, so did the frogs.Back in October, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency popularly known as ICE, deployed pepper spray into the air vent of a peaceful protester’s inflatable frog costume. Video of the incident in Portland, Oregon, quic…
The Conversation
Phys.orgThe plague of frog costumes demonstrates the subversive power of play in protests
Demonstrators in frog costumes during the "No Kings" protest on Oct. 18, 2025, in Portland, Ore. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty ImagesWhen the center of protests against immigration enforcement switched recently to Charlotte, North Carolina, so did the frogs. Back in October 2025, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency popularly known as ICE, deployed pepper spray into the air vent of a peaceful protester’s inflatable frog co…
Omaha World-Herald
News & RecordInflatable costumes take over anti-Trump rallies
PORTLAND, Ore. — Seth Todd was wearing an inflatable frog costume while protesting outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Building in Portland, Oregon, when a federal officer unleashed a torrent of chemical spray directly into the costume's air vent.
Anti-Trump protesters are wearing inflatable frog costumes. Here's why
Over the past few weeks, activists taking part in protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the US have donned inflatable animal costumes. This comes after a TikTok video showing an ICE agent spraying pepper spray into the air vent of an activist’s inflatable frog costume went viral. The costume, they say, aims to contradict the 'violent extremists' narrative echoed by the Trump administration for protest rallies
Thousands protest in California as anti-Trump sit-in in DC urged
Days after US President Donald Trump threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco, thousands of demonstrators poured out in full force on Thursday, with organisers calling for a sit-in in Washington, DC, on 5 November. The first major gathering of the day took place in nearby Alameda, where a 5 am protest was held after federal immigration agents (Customs and Border Control) were spotted, and then in the evening in the city, where thou…
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