'No Kings Here...': Indian Diaspora Joins Coast-to-Coast Marches Opposing Trump

"It's sometimes hard to realise how many people are on our side. And that's exactly what these protests did."

According to the organisers, the demonstrations saw the attendance of five million people in over 2,100 towns and cities across the US.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint) 

"I've been to protests before, but this was something else. Given the divisive climate we live in, it's sometimes hard to realise how many people are actually on our side. And that's exactly what these protests did... they created a group mentality."

Maya Ram, a US citizen and daughter of Indian immigrants, headed down to a protest site in San Jose, California, which has been the centre of opposition to US President Donald Trump's "draconian" policy of cracking down on immigrants.

According to her, around 12,000 people from all walks of life turned up at the site to join the large-scale 'No Kings' protest, planned across the US on Saturday, 14 June by Indivisible, a political action committee with chapters in all 50 states.

A few hundred miles south in California, Taher Hasanali, an Indian American, left behind fears of retribution from US authorities and joined hands with the approximately 1,000 protesters that took to the streets in Santa Monica.

All the way on the other side of the country, Jessica Strattard Hamilton sat on the front porch of her home in the quaint resort town of Traverse City in Michigan with her nine-year-old daughter, expressing her support to protesters as the rally passed by her house.

All of these people, divided by states, cultures, upbringings, religious beliefs, and professional qualifications, came together under one common banner and one belief: "In America, there are no thrones, no crowns, and No Kings".

The First Protest For Many

For many, the No Kings protest was the first-ever demonstration that they have taken part in.

"I'm not much of a protester," says Maya Ram while speaking to The Quint. "Even during Trump's first term, I wasn't going to protests even though I was and am very much opposed to him. But ever since Trump came to power again, I feel like I have to make my opposition well-known."

The 'No Kings' protest in San Jose, California.

(Photo Courtesy: Maya Ram/Accessed by The Quint)

Ram says that during the May Day protests, there were only 2,000 people who had taken to the streets in San Jose. But this time around, there has been a 10-fold increase in the number of people who came out to make their stand known.

"Quite understandably so because of the recent events in Los Angeles... I feel the deployment of the military got a lot of people riled up," she says.

On 6 June, protests had erupted across Los Angeles against widespread raids by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) against immigrants. In response, President Trump had deployed the National Guard to stop the demonstrations—in complete opposition to the Governor of California.

Sarah Shah, a senior communications official at non-profit Indian American Impact, had joined the protests with her husband, also an Indian immigrant, in their hometown Durham in North Carolina which saw an attendance of around 5,000 people.

"I went for a protest a couple of months ago, and the one I attended on 14 June was probably 10 times the size of that," she told The Quint.

"There were so many people, including Indians and other South Asians. For many of them, this was their first protest. They didn't protest during the first Trump presidency. But right now, given the urgency of everything that's going on, people are unitedly saying 'enough is enough'."

Sarah Shah

Sarah Shah and her husband at the Durham protests.

(Photo: Sarah Shah/Accessed by The Quint) 

However, she adds that with such large-scale protests, there is also a fear of the National Guard being deployed in other cities and states in the US, just as it was in Los Angeles. But, Shah adds, if that happens, it would probably backfire against Trump.

"Despite the deployment of marines, the LA protests did not stop. Rather, more and more people gathered as a reaction to that deployment," she says.

'An Atmosphere Like No Other'

Several people The Quint spoke to preferred to call the demonstrations 'rallies' rather than 'protests'. The reason, they say, is that it didn't feel like a protest as much as it did an "uplifting experience" of people coming together.

"There was so much enthusiasm. Every time a car drove by, if they agreed with our stand they would honk their horns and people would cheer. People weren't yelling out things, there was music playing everywhere. So in terms of the atmosphere, it was full of positivity and energy," says Taher Hasanali, who attended the Santa Monica protests.

Way across on the East Coast, Rahul Mehta (name changed on request), who attended the demonstrations in Westchester County, New York, agrees with him.

"We've been having rallies in our neighbourhood every Saturday since January 2025," says Rahul, who asked The Quint to change his name as he is an elected official in New York and is standing for higher office.

"It's very peaceful, it's very loud and passionate. People line up on both sides of the major road in our district. They've got signs. Cars are honking, people sitting in them are waving. They're not disrupting traffic in any way and the police are always there to keep a vigil."

Rahul Mehta

Meanwhile, the No Kings demonstrations weren't just held in big cities in the US, but in smaller towns and counties as well.

According to Jessica Strattard Hamilton, a resident of Traverse City, around 7,000 people turned up at the demonstrations in her neighbourhood – a remarkable feat given that the city is only 8-square-miles-long and has a population of around 15,000 as per the 2020 census.

What makes it even more remarkable is that Michigan, the state where Traverse City is based, voted Republican in the 2024 US presidential elections.

"There have been considerably large turnouts in red pockets. It's so good to see that these people haven't been pushed into fear," Hamilton, who works as a non-profit professional, told The Quint.

Hamilton says that when she participated in the 'Hands Off' protests in March, the demonstrations saw an attendance of around 4,000 people.

"In just a matter of months, the count has nearly doubled," she says.

"It was surreal... to walk out my front door and see so many people. I've lived in New York and Chicago, and this is something I might've expected there. But not in the sleepy town on Lake Michigan where I live. When the rally passed by my house, people came up to us, offered us flags, candy, flowers, and stickers. They came up to my nine-year-old daughter and said, 'We are doing this for you'."

Jessica Strattard Hamilton

Protesters passing by Jessica Hamilton's home in Traverse City, Michigan.

(Photo: Jessica Hamilton/Accessed by The Quint)

(Photo: Jessica Hamilton/Accessed by The Quint)

While she concedes that the protests are "cathartic" and a great way to get people motivated, she underscores the need for organisations at the helm to do more.

"The ultimate goal should be to mobilise people and boost voter turnout. Organisers need to leverage people's willingness to act, to give up their Saturday afternoons, and participate in the process, especially as the midterms are coming up next year," she asserts.

'All Colours of the Rainbow Represented' 

Around 700 miles south-east from where Hamilton lives, Ilonka Newbury, a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, had been burning the midnight oil as the co-organiser of the demonstration in her local neighbourhood to boost turnout.

She says that while 300 people signed up for the protests in advance, a crowd of around 1,000 people turned up on the actual day.

"Far more than we were expecting," Newbury says.

"It was uplifting, it was joyful, and supportive. There were people of all ages – little children and the elderly alike, holding their signs and flags. Our community in Silver Spring is very diverse, so every colour of the rainbow was represented, including mail carriers, wealthy lawyers, teachers, students, and USAID employees who were laid off," she told The Quint.

'No Kings' protests in Silver Spring, Maryland.

(Photo: Ilonka Newbury/Accessed by The Quint)

(Photo: Ilonka Newbury/Accessed by The Quint)

Newbury says that the demonstrations were a culmination of several factors, and that it had been a long time coming as people were angry and felt that their elected representatives weren't doing enough.

"All of us have friends and family members who have lost their jobs and who will lose their jobs. I work on science collaboration between the US and Germany, so I have personally known lots of scientists who have had their funding cut or their labs shut down," she adds.

Protesting Amid ICE Raids: Aren't Immigrants Afraid? 

Ever since ICE began cracking down on immigrants across the US, several Indians and other South Asians The Quint has spoken to over the last few months have been apprehensive about revealing their identities – whether they were students or professionals working in the US, and regardless of the visa category they belong to.

However, this time around, there seems to be far less fear, with most immigrants proudly saying, "Feel free to name me in the article".

What explains this psychological shift among them?

"We believe it's critical for Indians and other south Asians to show up right now when our democracy is under risk," Sarah Shah explains. "We want our communities to be a part of this story so that we can say that in this chapter in time, we were not silent."

However, she adds, that this does not negate the fact that there are "very real risks" in today's climate in exercising even those rights enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

"While that's even more true for immigrants and visa holders, full-fledged citizens aren't away from risk either," she says.

LA-based Taher Hasanali agrees.

"Yes, absolutely, I am fearful. It's fully justified and reasonable to be afraid of retribution. Even if it doesn't happen now, it could happen later," he says.

"However, for me it was just one of those moments. Having people show up together was worth the risk. So far, lots of people were feeling a lack of support, but now they're seeing that a majority of people do support them and are doing their part in protecting them. Retribution is something I've thought about a lot, but it just wasn't possible for me to not take action this past weekend."

Even non-immigrants share in the anger brewing among immigrant communities.

Ilonka Newbury says that while there is a myriad of reasons to be frustrated with the current political climate, the ICE raids were the trigger that led to the realisation that large-scale action was needed.

"There has been no due process for people who were randomly grabbed by ICE. It's basically men in masks wearing ICE vests, which they could've gotten on Amazon, shoving people into trucks. It's not okay. And there are even US citizens who were caught up in the ICE raids," she says.

Newbury, who hails from Silver Spring, says that there is a vibrant immigrant community in her town who are looked upon as being very much a part of the neighbourhood rather than as "outsiders".

"The immigrant community in my area feels supported by their friends and neighbours. They were out there with us in the street. We work and live with these people. We see them at stores, we volunteer to help them – whether with helping with their English or reviewing their documents. We don't see them as outsiders."

Ilonka Newbury

The No Kings' protests had coincided with a military parade in Washington DC, marking the 79th birthday of President Trump and the 250th anniversary of the US Army.

Indivisible, the group which organised the No Kings demonstrations, had intentionally chosen not to protest in Washington in order to avoid a face-off. They also published a list of do's and don'ts for those participating in the protests across the country.

According to the organisers, the demonstrations saw the attendance of five million people in over 2,100 towns and cities across the US.