About 100 people protested the Saturday appearance of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The businessman is leading the Republican field in the national polls and trading first place with Texas Senator Ted Cruz in recent Iowa polling.

Trump said, weeks ago, he is calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States". This has led to sharp rebuttals from Democrats and other Republicans running for president, even among the more conservative elements of the party.

"We're not the stereotype that Donald Trump has brought us up as," said Azmeh. "We're normal people in this world just trying to live like everyone else and we've been degraded down into something that we're not and I feel like we all came out here to prove him wrong."

Trump's comment have also refocused a light on the influence of people of the Muslim faith in Cedar Rapids as it is a sizable porportion of the population. The Mother Mosque of America is in the city's northwest side and Muslims have been a part of the city going back to the 19th century.