What usually busy Miami streets look like as area waits for Trump’s court appearance

Hello? Where is everyone?

While people swarmed around the federal courthouse on Tuesday — to make a point or cover the proceedings — pockets of downtown Miami looked deserted.

People may have actually heeded the Trump traffic warnings.

The normally clogged stretch of Biscayne Boulevard on Northeast Fifth street, leading into PortMiami in front of Bayside Marketplace, resembled a ghost town late Tuesday morning.

Closer to the courthouse, a gaggle of uniformed Miami police officers stood alone in the shade outside the Brightline station, chugging juice, cold water and cortaditos. They waited. A few are masked up, despite the stifling heat.

“I’m from Miami,” said one. “Built for this.”

Then there was a Miami woman who felt she was dropped into the surreal.

Katrina Clayton doesn’t consider herself pro or anti Donald Trump. The accountant just got caught in Arraignment World because she lives right by the federal courthouse downtown.

Clayton said she was out of town on vacation in Toronto and got back at 10 p.m. Monday, without checking the latest headlines.

When she awoke Tuesday morning to pick up her dog, Bagheera, from the sitter, she saw police tape, street closures and cops everywhere.

“I was like, what’s going on?!” Clayton said laughing, her 4-year-old German shepherd on a leash by her side.

“People were like, ‘it’s Trump!’ And I was like, ‘Ohhh, guess I’m staying home today!’ ”

This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 1:45 PM.