More than 3,000 No Kings protests are planned across the United States this weekend, offering Americans a chance to register their disapproval of the Trump administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An estimated 7,000 attended the No Kings event at Houston City Hall in October, an increase over the inaugural local protest last June. Organizers say they expect an even larger crowd at the gathering on Saturday, March 28, from noon to 4 p.m. Other protests are slated for Saturday in Kingwood, Cypress, Clear Lake, The Woodlands, Conroe, Katy and Pasadena.
The nationwide No Kings movement formed to send a message to Trump that America does not belong to dictators, tyrants or kings, but to the American people. While Houston police — both mounted and on foot — are present at the local protests, ICE agents have not had a strong presence, if any, and the gatherings are generally peaceful. Organizers say they are committed to nonviolent action and “expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events.”
Houston protesters have raised concerns about various issues, including foreign policy and local matters such as the state takeover of Houston ISD, but most appear to be fixated on the ICE presence.
Saturday’s gatherings will be the first large protests in Houston since American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot by federal agents in Minneapolis in January. Bruce Springsteen is scheduled to take the stage at a Minnesota No Kings event, billed as an opportunity to bring together Americans across all 50 states, “united against the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and corruption.”
Since the Minneapolis shootings, Congressional Democrats have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which not only covers ICE but also TSA.
The standoff has created chaos at American airports, and Trump sent ICE agents to George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports this week, presumably to assist with moving passengers through security. Wait times at Houston airports were clocked at over four hours, and observers say it appears the ICE agents are just there for intimidation.
Although Houston City Council members have limited authority when it comes to federal government policies, local elected officials have attempted to diminish fear among the immigrant community.
Mayor John Whitmire and Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz announced on March 11 that HPD officers must call a sergeant to the scene when they encounter someone with a non-criminal immigration warrant. They can’t transport the person to ICE solely based on the administrative warrant, and if ICE is called, the federal agents have 30 minutes to respond.
About a week later, council members Alejandra Salinas, Abbie Kamin and Edward Pollard introduced a resolution that took it a step further, suggesting that if no crime is committed, there should be no call to ICE.
Trump’s crackdown on immigration was originally supposed to be about deporting violent criminals; it has since become an entirely different operation, with children being detained, people being removed from the country for minor traffic infractions and people who are documented but couldn’t produce their papers being held for days.
Neil Aquino, founder of the Houston Democracy Project, is scheduled to speak at Saturday’s protest at City Hall.
“No Kings protests allow democracy advocates to invest time and resources into organizing and self-protection, without the extraction of resources and grift you get with the conventional political system,” Aquino wrote on his blog recently. “We are showing up for the electoral work. But here, there is no gatekeeper, no murky endorsement processes, no hierarchy, no electeds looking to manipulate people, no consultants getting paid.”
“At the bottom line, when ICE shoots someone in Houston, or [Gov. Greg] Abbott comes for our elections, we will be swarmed by cops no matter how peacefully we assemble, and elected officials will be unreliable allies,” he added. “We need to know each other across the Houston region and have each other’s backs. The work ahead is ours.”