Around 6 on a Monday evening, I found myself standing in a Marriott Hotel ballroom in Bridgewater, New Jersey, talking to a retired police chief about his newfound passion for protesting Donald Trump.

“Never been much of a protester, until Jan. 20,” Robert Quinlan told me. “I never in my lifetime thought that this could happen in America—that our democracy could really be in danger.”

Dressed in jeans and a track jacket, the 66-year-old had warm eyes and spoke softly as he explained to me the case of Karim Daoud, a father of two who had recently been detained by immigration authorities after a regular check-in. Daoud has been living in the U.S. for the past 20 years; he’s married to a U.S. citizen and worked at a local bar and grill. According to his GoFundMe page, there’s a chance Daoud could be moved to a detention center across the country, separating him from his family and lawyer.

“He’s got a wife and kids—what are they going to do without him?” Quinlan’s voice cracked, and tears began welling up in his eyes. He took a minute to compose himself. “What good does that do this country to have a family now who doesn’t have a father? We’re seeing good, hardworking people getting dragged off by ICE.”

Quinlan said that ever since Trump took office again, he’s been stuck in a state of shock. He decided to do something about it by creating a Facebook group with like-minded friends and community members in which they organize protests against the Trump administration and their Republican representative, Tom Kean Jr.—who has been following GOP leadership’s recent directive to avoid giving in-person town halls as Trump’s agenda has grown more unpopular. (Kean did recently hold a 35-minute telephone meeting with constituents for which questions had to be submitted in advance. He did not respond to a request for comment.)