Community Helper & Mom of Two, Brutalized by Law Enforcement Last Night

Last night, August 15, 2025, in LaBelle, Florida, a 55-year-old woman was ripped from her car by Law Enforcement Officers, in Hendry County, while she was doing nothing more than documenting a ICE arrest.

Her name is Hillary Hogue—a citizen, a single mother of two sons, and caretaker for her elderly father. Hillary has been a long-time community helper, offering rides to doctor appointments, picking up groceries, and supporting neighbors in Golden Gate. She also volunteers as part of a rapid response team to monitor and document immigration enforcement actions, making sure families know what is happening when Border Patrol and local law enforcement move in on workers.

On Cowboy Way in LaBelle, while observing and filming a Border Patrol arrest of several workers, Hillary suddenly found herself the target. Hendry deputies yanked her from her car. First, they tried to pin a felony trespass charge on her. When that didn’t stick, they falsely charged her with resisting arrest.

She was finally released late last night, around 11:40 p.m., exhausted but determined to keep speaking out.

Hillary did not walk away from this ordeal unscathed. She is now very sore, in pain, and covered in deep bruises—black and blue from the force used against her during the arrest. The physical marks on her body are a painful reminder of what it means when law enforcement decides to target and silence people who are simply trying to do the right thing.

This is how the system treats people—especially women, neighbors, allies—who dare to stand up for their community. Hillary broke no law. She was doing what every one of us should have the right to do: observing, documenting, and protecting our neighbors.

But now she faces serious charges and legal fees she cannot afford. She should not be forced to fight this battle alone.

We are asking for urgent donations to cover Hillary’s legal defense. Every dollar helps protect not only her, but also the right of our communities to resist intimidation and criminalization.

We must stand up with people like this. We must take a stand. This is where we call on the help of anyone who has been angered, frustrated, and feeling lost and alone under authoritarianism. Help us resist.

Hillary’s case is not the first, and it won’t be the last. Across Florida, Border Patrol, ICE, and county sheriffs are moving together in increasingly aggressive sweeps—targeting immigrant workers, but also those who try to help or even bear witness.

We need to meet their intimidation with solidarity.

That means raising funds, showing up, and spreading the word.

To make a true difference, we cannot rely on protest signs or vigils- we must take direct action to defend our neighbors and ourselves from authoritarian tactics.

Please donate today to support Hillary’s legal fight. Share this story widely.

Standing with Hillary means standing with every family that has been targeted, every worker taken, every ally threatened with arrest. This is how we make a real difference.

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This Is What Democracy Defense Looks Like (And Why We Need You)

Democracy isn’t dying in the dark—it’s being dismantled in broad daylight.

Every day, across Florida and beyond, extremist lawmakers and corporate interests are pushing policies designed to silence dissent, strip voting rights, erase history, ban books, criminalize compassion, and turn our public lands and schools into battlegrounds for culture wars and profit.

But there’s one thing standing in their way: us.

At Save Our Democracy, we believe in building power from the ground up—community by community, park by park, protest by protest. And we’re not just talking about change. We’re doing the work. Here’s how we’re fighting back—and how a simple $20–25 donation can make a real difference.

WHAT WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW:

Alligator Alcatraz Resistance

We’re organizing daily protests, community vigils, press outreach, and direct action campaigns against the ICE detention center being built in the Everglades—on sacred, ecologically critical land. From filing public records requests to amplifying Indigenous voices to launching vendor boycott campaigns, this is full-scale resistance.

Learn more

Protect Our Parks Tour

We just completed a multi-state grassroots road trip with mothers and children to document environmental injustices and educate others about sacred and endangered public lands. From Big Cypress to Brown v. Board to Yellowstone, we’re telling the stories they want silenced.

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Clean Hands, Dirty Politics Campaign

We’re launching a satirical but biting “Hand Soap for Hate” campaign that calls out Florida’s filthiest politicians—literally and figuratively—and reminds folks that resistance is messy but worth it.

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Mutual Aid & Resistance Fund

From bailing out young protestors like Emily (arrested for defending immigrant rights) to providing direct support for undocumented families facing deportation, we’re building a lifeline for those on the frontlines.

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Creative Resistance & Community Art Projects

We’re building an 8-foot replica eagle nest, printing protest posters, hosting zine workshops, and crafting murals that teach radical history and hope. We believe art IS activism—and every piece tells a story of survival.

Learn more

WHY YOUR DONATION MATTERS

It doesn’t take millions to move mountains.

It takes people—and a little help from the people who believe in this work.

• $20 pays for supplies for a banned book zine-making session

• $25 fuels a tank for the Banned Wagon or Protect Our Parks tour

• $50 helps us print and distribute protest posters or survival guides

• $100 can help cover legal aid for a protestor or translation services for an immigrant family

• $250+ can fund an entire youth organizing workshop, art action, or mutual aid delivery

Every single dollar we raise goes directly to the work. There’s no corporate overhead. No PACs. Just grassroots organizers, artists, parents, and everyday people doing the work of democracy with their hands in the dirt and their hearts on fire.

WHERE TO GIVE:

Donate now at:

https://www.save-our-democracy.com/donate

Tax-deductible contributions can also be made via check or through our fiscal sponsor. Details are available on our website.

FINAL WORD:

In a state like Florida—where books are banned, protestors are arrested, and families are torn apart by fascist policy—every act of resistance is an act of love.

And love needs fuel.

So if you’ve been wondering how to help, start here. Give what you can. Share our work. Follow us on social media. Show up when it counts.

Because democracy doesn’t save itself. We save each other.

PROTECT OUR PARKS PROJECT: What We’ve Seen by Day 3

It’s only Day Three of our cross-country Protect Our Parks Tour, and already our kids have learned more about American history, climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and the consequences of silence than most textbooks will ever teach.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of our 18-day journey—but these first 72 hours have been rich with story, connection, heartbreak, and hope. From sacred tribal sites to civil rights landmarks, this trip is more than a protest. It’s a classroom. It’s a call to action. And it’s a reminder that democracy doesn’t live in marble buildings—it lives in us.

Day 1: The Roads to Resistance Are Paved in Georgia Clay

We hit the road on June 3, heading straight for Atlanta, Georgia a place that sits at the heart of so many of America’s deepest contradictions—land of beauty and brutality, of fierce resistance and forced removals, of revolutionary dreams and devastating silences. You cannot understand this country’s history—or its future—without understanding the stories rooted in Georgia’s red clay.

Here, in what is now Atlanta, movements for liberation were born and reborn. It’s where the legacy of enslavement built towering wealth—and where people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King dared to challenge the lie that justice can wait. The monuments and museums tell a sanitized version, but the real history is heavier. This was ground zero for both the cruelty of Jim Crow and the strategic brilliance of the Civil Rights Movement. The word “nonviolence” gets tossed around today like a slogan—but in Georgia, it was a weapon sharpened by community organizers, church elders, and young people willing to put their bodies on the line.

Long before the Civil Rights era, this land was home to sovereign Indigenous nations—the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, and others—whose sophisticated agricultural systems, ecological knowledge, and trade networks were erased by settler violence and forced displacement. The Trail of Tears doesn’t begin and end with a sad footnote; it carved trauma into this landscape, into generations. The trees remember. So do the rivers.

Georgia’s natural beauty has also been a target of exploitation. From the clearcutting of forests to the industrial poisoning of Black and Indigenous communities, the land itself has been treated as expendable. This legacy of extraction continues today as rural communities are sacrificed to mega-landfills, fossil fuel plants, and deregulated development. And like everything else—it’s connected. Climate injustice isn’t some abstract crisis. It’s right here in Georgia’s scorched summers, flood-prone coasts, and toxic soil.

And that’s the lesson Georgia has to offer: the truth matters—but only if it leads to action. You can’t pave over stolen land, name a highway after a civil rights hero, and pretend that’s justice. The past doesn’t just haunt us—it shapes everything around us.

What we remember, and how we remember it, is a political act. Georgia dares us not to forget.

We slept in a hotel just outside Atlanta, the kids buzzing with questions. If we know all of this, why do we still have to fight for the same things? What happens if nobody listens?

We told them: We keep fighting anyway.

Dani Haggman and museum guide discuss history at Chucalissa Site

Day 2: Memphis, Fossils, and the Truth They Don’t Tell in School

In Memphis, we visited the Chucalissa Archaeological Site, a powerful place where Mississippian culture, Indigenous history, and modern activism meet. The kids touched ancient pottery and fossils from mastodons and mammoths. They learned what it means to repatriate artifacts—and why it’s important to return sacred items to the communities they were taken from.

We talked about NAGPRA—the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—and how museums and governments often fight to hold onto stolen culture. But here at Chucalissa, the story is different. Local tribes helped shape this museum. They shared their items not to display their trauma—but to teach and empower future generations.

And our kids? They were soaking it all in like little sponges. One asked, “Why didn’t they tell us about this in school?” Another said, “I want to build a museum that gives everything back.”

Meanwhile, we passed through parts of the Trail of Tears, following the literal path of forced removal that tore thousands of Native families from their homes. We didn’t sanitize it. The kids asked hard questions. We gave honest answers. Even the youngest among them could feel the grief in the land.

Day 3: St. Louis, Rosa Parks, and the Highway of Hypocrisy

We crossed the Rosa Parks Memorial Highway this morning—a strange contrast to the reality of how this country still treats Black women who speak up. Phoenix said it best: “If they really cared about her, they would stop hurting people like her.”

She’s not wrong. Naming highways after civil rights heroes means nothing when Black children are still being policed and punished for existing. We also drove past the so-called Lewis and Clark Trail, which sparked a deep conversation about colonization, erasure, and the story of Sacagawea—often told without truth or consent.

We talked about what it means to really teach history—not just the whitewashed myths but the messy, complicated, and painful realities. We reminded the kids that knowledge is power—but only if you use it.

And Now? We’re Headed to Brown v. Board

We’re on the road to Topeka, Kansas—where the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site waits. It’s not just another stop on the map. It’s the birthplace of one of the most important Supreme Court rulings in American history. And it’s where we’ll talk to our children about segregation, desegregation, and the ways racism still shapes every zip code, every school, every budget.

They’re ready. They’ve got crayons, water bottles, and so many questions.

So do we.

Why This Tour Matters

This tour isn’t a vacation. It’s a protest on wheels. A mobile classroom. A witness trip. A truth caravan.

We’re documenting the ways America’s public lands, historical monuments, and cultural narratives are under attack—not just from corporations and climate collapse, but from propaganda, white supremacy, and political erasure. We are here to say: You can’t whitewash history, pave over public lands, and call it progress.

And the best part? Our kids are watching. And they’re learning how to fight back.

Help Us Keep Going

We are three moms and five kids doing this on grit, love, and the support of our community. If you believe in protecting parks, telling the truth, and building a better future for all our children, please help us keep this tour alive:

Donate:

• Paypal - https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=8NA2363L2FEGY

Follow our journey:

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Spread the word. Share our posts. Talk to your kids. Demand more from your leaders.

Sources & Learn More:

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park: https://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm

Chucalissa Museum & Archaeological Site: https://www.memphis.edu/chucalissa

NAGPRA Overview: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nagpra/index.htm

Rosa Parks Highway Memorials: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/back0803.cfm

Brown v. Board of Education Site: https://www.nps.gov/brvb/index.htm