Boston joins third national 'No Kings' protest

Thousands of protesters flooded Boston Common on a brisk, sunny Saturday afternoon to voice their opposition to the Trump administration. They joined what organizers expected to be millions of demonstrators fanning out across the country.

Carrying signs, and with some adorned in elaborate costumes, demonstrators marched, chanted and played music as they made their way to Boston Common for the third iteration of the "No Kings" rally.

"We want everyone to feel that they are part of this movement and that they can help direct the course of our country," said Rebecca Winter, executive director of Mass 50501, one of the organizations spearheading the Boston event.

Winter said that in Trump's second term, the administration has created "so much more red tape for us to get things like proper healthcare, proper funding for education [and] proper scientific research."

Arlington’s Jennifer Mercer, 55, and her husband Greg Mercer, 59, weren’t at the last “No Kings” protest, but were moved to come to this one after seeing the images coming out of Minneapolis during the ICE crackdown earlier this year. In addition, both work in health care — Greg is a visiting nurse and Jennifer is an occupational therapist — and they are concerned about the impacts to their patients due to the cuts to Medicaid included in last summer’s spending bill.

“Not just the quality of life of these people, but it's vastly more expensive to try to take care of these people in nursing homes, in hospitals, in emergency rooms,” Jennifer Mercer said. “So in this attempt of trying to save money, it's gonna be a huge expense.”

Saturday's demonstration comes amid a war in Iran that is costing American taxpayers billions while many people are concerned about affordability domestically. The rally also comes as the government remains in a partial shutdown as lawmakers debate on curtailments to ICE's authority.

Arianne Medina, 18, of Carver, came with her 9-year-old brother and carried a sign that said “Speaking up for the kids who can’t” — a reference to children in global conflict zones such as Gaza and Iran. Medina said she's also seen the Trump Administration’s immigration policies directly affect her family.

“My mom is an immigrant and so I have a lot of family that have come from Mexico. Some are documented, some are still in the process,” Medina said. “And just knowing how difficult that process is, it's really hard to see how dehumanized people of color are being.”

At the Common rally, speakers included Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell, as well as Marcelo Gomes da Silva, the Milford teen who was detained last year by ICE on his way to volleyball practice.

“ Kids are trying to learn while carrying anxiety no one their age should have to carry,” said Gomes, addressing the crowd. “What kind of future are we building if fear is stronger than education?”

The perceived overreach of ICE was a common message among speakers and was met with enthusiastic applause from demonstrators.

"In Massachusetts, we value our immigrants. All of them. We value their cultural contributions. We value their innovation. We value their art and so much more," Campbell said to the crowd. "And we know that without them, without our immigrant workers, this state, this country, would crumble economically."

Healey also spoke to the Trump Administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, pointing to family separations and the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota by federal agents. Legislation moving through Beacon Hill would ban certain immigration arrests at courthouses and limit local police involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

”That's why in Massachusetts, I'm keeping ICE out of our schools, our daycare centers, our hospitals, our courthouses, and they're not gonna be on state property,” Healey said. “And don't even think about building a detention center here. Not going to happen in Massachusetts, ever.”

Among the protesters was Cecily Miller, 65, who lives in Cambridge and Truro. She says she’s outraged by what she described as the “cruelty and illegal behavior of the current administration.” She pointed to the targeting of immigrants, as well as concerns over the federal government’s increased use of surveillance technology and profiling of U.S. citizens.

”We're relatively privileged here in Massachusetts. We feel relatively safe and that's good and a blessing. But we shouldn't be complacent, because they can come for us. They can come for any of us,” Miller said. “If there's no rule of law, there's no rule of law for anyone.”

At the rally, organizers said over 50 organizations taught demonstrators about activism. The Dropkick Murphys were also scheduled to headline a musical performance, the second time they've done so at a Boston "No Kings" event.

"We don't expect that the Trump regime is going to collapse on Saturday," Winter said. "But what we do expect is that people are going to see that they have power and to use that power to push every single day."