WASHINGTON—Tens of thousands of people, including some first-generation Americans, attended the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, an event geared toward children and family-friendly events. But not everyone celebrated the holiday by racing to the finish line with a brightly colored hard-boiled egg and a wooden spoon in hand.
Similar to a political rally, some adults and children wore “Make America Great Again” hats. Some first-generation Americans have traveled from out of state to support President Donald Trump and his immigration policies.
Philip Nicozisis and his wife brought their 2-year-old daughter from Palm Beach, Florida. The son of a Greek war refugee, he said he approves of the president.
“My grandfather lived in our house along with my dad … so three generations living in the home with the immigration perspective,” he said. “However, the invaders of the last four years, five years … they all have to come in legally. And so I think the president’s got it right where these people who broke the law have to be held accountable and especially the bad guys have to be expelled quickly.”
Trump has made quick expulsions of immigrants a focal point of his presidency. Beginning in March, the Trump administration ordered the plane deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the wartime Alien Enemies Act, which advocacy groups have challenged in court.
On Monday, the District of Columbia District Court postponed to May 7 a motion hearing on these deportations. Most recently, the Supreme Court blocked new deportations of immigrants at the Bluebonnet facility in Texas in response to a motion the American Civil Liberties Union filed.
However, when asked by a Medill reporter at the Egg Roll, Trump stuck by his policies.
“I was elected to clean up the mess in this country. We had millions and millions of people come in who are criminals, who are murderers, who are everything you can imagine. Drug lords, drug dealers,” Trump said to reporters as he walked through the crowd at the White House Monday. “They came in from prisons and from mental institutions. And I was elected to move them out, among many other things. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Nicozisis, who was visiting the White House for the first time, said the judges were operating a “judicial dictatorship” and “standing in the way of enforcing immigration laws.”
An estimated 40,000 people attended the egg roll, according to Trump.
Johnny Huerta flew from Van Vleck, Texas, to D.C. with his grandchildren, ages 5, 7 and 10. His daughter, a Border Patrol agent, previously worked at the southern border.
“It’s an awesome thing to be here with somebody that believes in fundamental principles,” Huerta said. “I support closed borders, and there has to be law and order, and that’s in every country.”
Rosie Rios, a first-generation Mexican American, leads America250, which planned the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Her parents are from Guadalajara.
“As the daughter of immigrants, my parents came over to this great country in 1958. My mom who ended up staying in the United States to raise all nine of us as a single parent and somehow send all nine of us off to college. That is the American dream,” Rios said.
Trump spoke for about three and a half minutes to open the event around 11 a.m., emphasizing Easter’s purpose and mentioning Pope Francis’ death.
“He was a good man. Worked hard. He loved the world, and it’s an honor to do that,” Trump said of the pontiff who died hours before the event.
Trump signed an executive order to fly federal and state flags at half-staff in honor of the 88-year-old pope, who had been hospitalized in February for double pneumonia.
Francis was known to oppose Trump’s harsh immigration policies.
In a February letter to United States bishops, Francis called Trump’s migrant deportations a “major crisis.”
Francis wrote at the time, “The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.”
Cover Photo: A young girl grabs dyed Easter eggs from a table on the White House South Lawn during the annual egg roll competition on Monday, April 21, 2025. (Ashley Soriano/Medill News Service)
Ashley Soriano is a reporting fellow from Northwestern University