Detroiters say no to Trump attacks

Detroit, MI – 2500 people gathered at Hart Plaza, April 19, ready to fight back against Donald Trump and his attacks on working-class people, both at home and abroad. The demonstration was a “Hands Off” march and rally, organized by Detroit Anti-War Committee, Detroit Comité de Acción Comunitaria, Detroit Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Wayne State Students for a Democratic Society, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

For the first time since the “Hands Off” movement began in the city, residents took the streets of the Motor City, chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!” The people were filled with righteous anger, and the signs dotting the procession showed people’s animosity to this current administration, many referring to Donald Trump and Elon Musk as kings, oligarchs and murderers. Many signs carried demands on the Trump administration, urging that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be brought home and for an end to the United States’ relationship with the El Salvadoran prison CECOT.

Keeping with this theme, Marcel Ulacia spoke for the Detroit Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, saying, “We cannot afford to wait and see what happens or hope in vain that Trump’s depravity will find some kind of limit. Politics starts at home, with our neighbors, and in our communities, where regular people like you and me get together to fight for what we believe in.” The people began cheering, chanting in support of a movement that will “Stand up and fight back!”

Dr. Michael Muczynski of Students for a Democratic Society began the rally with a speech about the recent revoking of student visas, saying, “I compel all parents, grandparents, faculty and community members to support the student movement. My peers have been harassed, stalked, arrested and deported for doing what is right.” This comes in the wake of more than four Wayne State Students having their visas revoked and Wayne State’s main guidance to those affected being to “self-deport.”

Muczynski followed this up by demanding Wayne State kick ICE off campus, declare itself a sanctuary campus, and refuse to capitulate to Trump’s demands on deportations and his cuts to education and DEI. The crowd responded with a resounding chant of “Dare to struggle, dare to win!”

As the crowd took the streets, people worked together with the marshals to ensure a successful march. The energy was electrifying as the march paused in front of the U.S. Immigration Court, where Kassandra Rodriguez of Detroit Comité de Acción Comunitaria spoke. Rodriguez called for an end to cooperation between Detroit Police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for the city to declare itself a sanctuary, stating, “We need a city government that represents the needs of the people and what we want is ICE out of our community now!”

Upon returning to Hart Plaza, the crowd rallied once more to hear from Jacob Smith of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Jo Pico of Detroit Anti-War Committee. Both speakers emphasized the dire need for grassroots organizing in the city, with Pico saying, “Over the course of this nation’s history, and especially in the three months since Donald Trump has taken office, it has become an unavoidable truth that the United States government will never do the right thing unless we, the people, demand it.”

Smith furthered this point by declaring, “We cannot allow anything like another Trump presidency to happen again, and that means we need to rise up, get organized, and do away with the capitalist system that put him here in the first place.”

After this, the crowd began to disperse, though many people followed the organizer’s call to action, speaking with several of the march leaders about how to get involved further. One person expressed, “I want to do more than just march in the street.” The action provided people an opportunity to get involved and, in Smith’s words, “make Trump’s America ungovernable.”

#DetroitMI #MI #PeoplesStruggles #Trump #HandsOff #AntiWarMovement #ImmigrantRights