No Kings protesters march down Woodward Ave. in Detroit
Hundreds of protesters take Woodward Ave. to protest the Trump administration on March 28, 2026 as part of the No Kings day of action.
For some passersby in Detroit, the thousands of people who took to the streets on Saturday, March 28, to denounce President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies were a comfort. To others, they were an annoyance or worse.
But across the state, protesters sought to catch their eye and share with each other encouragement and concerns on the third so-called No Kings Day in a year protesting the president.
Crowds gathered in Holland, Adrian, West Bloomfield and Lansing. One sign in Ann Arbor read, “I’m tired of this, Grandpa,” and one in Battle Creek read, “End The War.” In Romulus, politicians rallied against the potential for an immigration detention center to be built there, and in Dearborn, a lawyer once detained by such agents called for the dismantling of their department. In Detroit, a teacher described the empty chairs of detained students, and a mother held up a painting of an explosion taking place in front of a child, symbolic of American military actions.
In a statement released ahead of the protests, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson made little of the efforts.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” she said.
Onlookers, politicians and participants weighed in during conversations with the Free Press.
Onlookers
Jackee Oliver, 37, of Detroit, made her way back from her neighborhood store with her mom and 11-year-old daughter sporting stickers that read, “I Stood Up For Democracy Today,” and included a symbol of a crossed-out crown.
They’d been running their errand when they passed through the No Kings gathering about 11 a.m. on the east side of Detroit bordering Grosse Pointe on Mack Avenue between Cadieux and Neff roads. Oliver said she didn’t realize the protest was happening but hoped to come back out to join.
It was “a good thing,” she said, with her mom, Devita Williams, 58, of Ypsilanti, adding her thoughts on the Trump administration: “I’d like to get them all out the White House.”
Community members eyeing the crowd of roughly 200 people who marched through their Southwest Detroit neighborhood west of Clark Park on Saturday afternoon offered differing takes on the matter.
One man, translated by his nephew, said it was good and should be everywhere. Another said the group probably didn’t live in Southwest Detroit. Still others called it awesome or said the group should take their protest elsewhere.
In downtown Detroit, as at least a couple of thousand protesters marched along Woodward Avenue, several people headed to see the band the Black Label Society at The Fillmore said they got stuck in backups because of the march.
Shawn Roy, 49, drove from the Lansing area on his birthday with his son for that concert, he said while stuck behind a police SUV blocking Woodward for the marchers.
Roy is a Trump supporter but said he didn’t take issue with people using their right to protest. He just didn’t think their tactic was reasonable with so many events in town.
“This wouldn’t sway my mind even if I was on the fence,” he said.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls for end of ICE at ‘No Kings’ protest
No Kings protests in Detroit: What rallies looked like
Shortly thereafter, as the marchers started to depart, Milan Anderson-Whitfield, 19, of Northville, strolled up with her teenage little sister to see a group of drummers still playing and learn more. She held a sign she’d been given that read, “Keep your theology off my biology.”
She was tearing up as she spoke to a Free Press reporter, she said.
She’s anti-Trump. Seeing the gathering means a lot when you “don’t have anyone to talk to about this,” she said.
Elsewhere in the region, U.S. Rep. John James, a GOP candidate for governor, attended the Michigan Republican Party endorsement convention and called the demonstrations “just another manifestation of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
War, immigration, high costs and hope
Speakers across three rallies in Detroit spoke about not giving into despair, how immigration enforcement is causing harm in their view, their concern for voting rights, and how they disagree with Trump’s moves to attack Iran, remove Venezuela’s leader and to eye Cuba as “next.”
Speakers called for local policy change too. Faith leaders spoke, as did union members, activists and politicians such as Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat who is a candidate for Michigan secretary of state, and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit.
In Clark Park, with more than 600 people listening, speakers called for Detroit police to release unedited video in use of force situations. They also called for college and city institutions to divest from businesses with ties to Israel.
The fight for immigrant rights and the fight against wars are interrelated, said Daniel Weber Alatorre of the Wayne State University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.
“We create atrocities over there, immigrants come here and we beat them,” he told the crowd.
As those from the Clark Park rally marched, they chanted, “Trump wants war, Trump wants oil, hands off Iranian soil.”
As those at Detroit’s downtown Grand Circus Park marched later in the day, they chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
Before the start of that rally, Rubina Javed, 60, of Warren, held up a painting her daughter had made. It showed a child looking out at the site of an explosion, an apparent bombing of sorts. It represents Iran, Lebanon and beyond, and Trump lied when he campaigned on no wars, she said.
“We don’t need bombing,” Javed said. “We want peace, dignity and love.”
She urged others to join the cause of protesting Trump, saying more voices can make change.
Kristen Schoettle, who said she works as an English as a second language teacher at Western International High School in Detroit, also told the crowd to act after sharing her story of five students being taken by immigration agents. It’s harmed fellow students, too, she said.
She called on people to push back against police cooperation with immigration agents or do whatever else they can, whatever that may look like.
Metro Detroit protests
Robin Gillis and her husband, Michael, both 73, of West Bloomfield, braved the cold in their town with temperatures in the 20s and a dusting of snow on the ground to talk about the Iran war, the economy, worry for upcoming elections, and the president’s imperious tone.
“He likes to label people so he can denigrate them, humiliate them, and make them feel less important,” said Michael Gillis, who was among more than 100 people out on Orchard Lake Road.
In Macomb County, Susan Diliberti, 69, of Clinton Township, walked among hundreds in Sterling Heights with a sign saying “juntos somos América” on one side with the translation “together we are America” on the other.
She came out to the protest at Hall and Schoenherr roads because she’s worried about future generations and wants to fight for everyone to have the right to accessible, quality public education, universal healthcare and the environment, she said.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to have hope to move into something that is even better than what we had before all the chaos happened,” Diliberti said.
The war in the Middle East affects many Dearborn residents with loved ones overseas, said Dearborn Democratic Club recording secretary Diane Hall.
Her group organized the No Kings gathering of about 300 people Saturday at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn. It featured speakers from Arab Americans for Progress and the ACLU of Michigan, among others.
“This is hitting hard for the people in Dearborn, and we want to be able to show our support, but also express our rage, and our grief, and our optimism, that we can come together, elect candidates that will stand up against the war, stand up against the regime, and make the pain stop,” Hall said. “So, it’s political, but it’s also moral for us. It’s life. It’s a question of life and death.”
A site of controversy
Bubbles floated in the air, music played and an organizer handed out chalk for demonstrators to leave messages for immigration agents at a Romulus No Kings protest.
By 3:30 p.m. roughly 300 people had made it out to the event at the site of 7525 Cogswell St., a property the U.S. Department of Homeland Security purchased with plans to make it a detention facility.
Demonstrators of all ages joined local politicians including U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit at the rally. Tlaib made an appearance in Romulus, at least her third protest of the day, along with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Wayne County Commissioner Allen Wilson.
More: Michigan, Romulus sue DHS to stop planned ICE detention facility
The Romulus protest differed from some others in Michigan because it demands specific, local, achievable action, said Chris Boyd, a member of organizing group Coalition to Shut the Camps.
Boyd said the recently developed group has already sent letters to companies and governmental organizations that would need to approve utilities for the facility.
His group has asked those institutions not to collaborate with the facility and more, and will hold those institutions accountable, he said.
There isn’t a clear timeline for the detention center’s construction. DHS officials previously said the facility’s construction and operation would lead to more than 1,400 jobs and create millions in tax revenue. On March 24, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Romulus officials announced they are suing DHS to prevent the opening of the planned facility.
Boyd said many protests show solidarity with groups being harmed by ICE, but few explore strategies to prevent people from being harmed. He said it’s going to take a shift to preventative strategies to stop harm.
“It’s not bad but it’s not sufficient,” Boyd said. “It’s OK to bring moms from Ann Arbor to go hang out with each other and hang out in the park and sing protest songs. That’s beautiful. It’s wonderful. It doesn’t change our outcomes. So we have to come up with other strategies that are sufficient and I think that’s what this is an example of.”
That said, he called the collective No Kings protests a powerful message and said the energy of such actions often fuel the practical work that follows.
Staff writer Paul Egan contributed to this story.
