Protesters are expected in Mill Creek Park in Kansas City and other locations across the metro to mark the third No Kings rally opposing the actions of the Trump administration.
The rally joins more than 3,100 demonstrations planned across the country on Saturday. Organizers said 18,000 to 20,000 people turned out in Kansas City for the last No Kings rally in October, and they hope to break that record this weekend.
Beverly Harvey is the founder of Indivisible Kansas City, the group organizing the protest. She said it’s hard to list the actions Trump has taken that are worth protesting since last fall’s demonstration because there have been so many. That includes the ongoing war in Iran and federal immigration officers’ killings of two people in Minneapolis.
She also noted increased federal immigration enforcement across the country, including the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers around the Kansas City area.
“There's a laundry list of things that he has done, basically to destroy democracy and to destroy America, and people are just fed up with it,” Harvey said.
Harvey said Kansas City residents feel the impact of federal actions, including more immigration detention facilities. An immigrant detention center has already opened in Leavenworth, Kansas, with 20 detainees after a drawn-out legal battle and public pushback.
And the development company that owns a south Kansas City warehouse that federal agents considered for an immigrant detention center halted its sale amid public pressure.
Harvey said organizers hope immigration officers don’t show up at their rally, and they’re focused on protesting peacefully.
“If any ICE or any troublemakers show up, we're just going to ignore them,” Harvey said. “So if there's any trouble, it's going to be other people that start that. It's not going to be the peaceful protesters.
More protests are planned elsewhere in the metro, including Independence, Lee’s Summit, Platte City and Liberty, Missouri. Across the state line, rallies are planned in Kansas City, Kansas, and from 75th Street to 119th Street in Johnson County.
