CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A group of about 50 “pop-up” protestors gathered at the corner of Hydraulic Road and Seminole Trail on Saturday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s use of military force, without Congressional approval, in overthrowing the Venezuelan government.

Their message, communicated by a variety of handheld signs and banners, was echoed by Virginia’s Senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.

“Our Constitution places the gravest decisions about the use of military force in the hands of Congress for a reason,” Warner, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement. “Using military force to enact regime change demands the closest scrutiny, precisely because the consequences do not end with the initial strike.”

Kaine, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, called the attack an overstepping by the U.S. into the affairs of a foreign, sovereign nation.

“President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro—however terrible he is—is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere,” Kaine said in his statement. “That history is replete with failures, and doubling down on it makes it difficult to make the claim with a straight face that other countries should respect the United States’ sovereignty when we do not do the same.

The Trump administration, during the President’s first term, accused and indicted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on narco-terrorism charges.

At the heart of the debate is the question of whether or not the U.S. military’s action constituted an act of war. Early Saturday morning, U.S. forces bombed Venezuelan military bases and an airport. Ground forces attacked Maduro’s compound, encountering gunfire before taking the Venezuelan leader and his wife into custody and flying them back to the U.S.

The U.S. Constitution gives sole power to declare war to Congress, but the President is the commander-in-chief of the military, giving him the authority to deploy troops without a formal declaration of war.

Despite a social media post from 5th District Rep. John McGuire that Democrats were defending Maduro, both Kaine and Warner made it clear that was not the case.

“None of this absolves Maduro,” Warner said in his statement. “He is a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people, stolen elections, imprisoned political opponents, and presided over a humanitarian catastrophe that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. The Venezuelan people deserve democratic leadership, and the United States and the international community should have done far more, years ago, to press for a peaceful transition after Maduro lost a vote of his own citizens. But recognizing Maduro’s crimes does not give any president the authority to ignore the Constitution.”

Kaine partnered with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer and California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff to introduce a War Powers Resolution in December to block the use of the U.S. military for an attack on Venezuela without specific approval from Congress. That has not yet been voted on.

A similar bill was voted down by Republicans late last year.

At Saturday’s Charlottesville protest, organized by Indivisible Charlottesville, former 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello, who is running for the post again, attended. In his own statement, Perriello criticized both Trump and the current members of Congress blocking the resolution.

“Trump’s illegal and dangerous act of war – and the cowardice of members of Congress who are hiding from their Constitutional duty to approve or block such military actions – will destabilize the region with serious costs for hardworking Americans and immediate harm to our national security,” Perriello said in his statement. “… The naked attempt by Trump and cronies to take control of Venezuelan oil reserves creates in a power vacuum in that country with dangerous consequences for the American people.”

Pres. Trump announced that the U.S. would, at least temporarily, run Venezuela and he said U.S. oil companies would be brought in to run the country’s oil business. He said that seized oil would be sold to benefit both the U.S. and Venezuela.

Both Kaine and Warner warned that the action in Venezuela could set a dangerous precedent, here and abroad.

“If the United States asserts the right to use military force to invade and capture foreign leaders it accuses of criminal conduct, what prevents China from claiming the same authority over Taiwan’s leadership?,” Warner said in his statement. “What stops Vladimir Putin from asserting similar justification to abduct Ukraine’s president? Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it.”