From Oakland County to Downriver, protesters rally against Trump, Musk and deportations

Protesters across metro Detroit spent another Saturday rallying and protesting against the Trump administration.

A handful of protest movements, ranging from Oakland County to Detroit, and farther south into Trenton, took place April 19 as a follow-up to the nationwide “Hands Off! Day of Action” protests on April 5, which saw thousands of Michiganders rally against President Donald Trump, his administration and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Thousands turned out, but the shouts of the crowds across Michigan stood in contrast to how the state voted in 2024. President Donald Trump won the state by a bit over 80,000 votes, earning 49.7% of the vote to then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 48.3%.

Protesters take to the streets in Detroit

Under the watchful eye of Detroit police, approximately 2,500 people marched through the streets of downtown Detroit, protesting the Trump administration.

The protesters began at Hart Plaza and marched through downtown Detroit along Lafayette Boulevard and Michigan Avenue before returning to the plaza.

The event attracted people who feel Trump’s policies are treading into illegal territory.

Mitch Mantey, a 30-year-old attorney from Detroit, said he sees Trump’s deportation efforts as illegal.

“Sending people out of the country without due process — you know, I’m an attorney, — and that is just, you know, fundamentally not permitted by the Constitution,” Mantey said, referencing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported. “And there’s a reason for that, right? Because if they can do it to anybody — and they can do it to anybody — that includes you, that includes me.”

Sarah Sewick, 44, of Farmington Hills, said she has been trying to go to every protest she can recently.

“It just seems like a really vital time to make our voices heard,” Sewick said, echoing Mantey’s concern over the legality of Trump’s policies. “I feel like, you know, our president is not obeying the law of the land, and I feel like that’s really dangerous.”

‘No Kings’ in Troy

To an endless din of honking cars, more than 2,000 protesters crowded the sidewalks on Big Beaver Road in Troy for the “No Kings Rally,” organized by the Troy Democratic Club.

Justine Galbraith, the vice chair of the Troy Democratic Club, said the turnout at the rally in Troy reflects fear and disdain for the first three months of Trump’s presidency.

“I think everyone’s really disturbed about what we’re seeing coming out of Washington,” Galbraith said.

While Galbraith doesn’t anticipate the Trump team to immediately change course in the face of protests, she said her goal is to build community and encourage people to make their voice heard.

“I think hope keeps it going. I think community keeps it going,” Galbraith said.

In the 2024 presidential election, Harris carried Troy, winning about 54% of the vote to Trump’s 42%, on par with the broader vote in Oakland County, which has voted reliably for Democratic officials and presidential candidates in recent years.

To Joey Bernert, a 35-year-old social worker, the growing protest movement reminds him of the Occupy Wall Street movement he experienced after he graduated from high school.

“It’s surreal for me, because I’ve never been in a protest this big since Occupy,” Bernert said, gesturing toward the crowd of protesters around him.

Bernert worries about the impact Trump’s policies have on his community and clients. But most of all, Trump’s contentious policies — sweeping job cuts, rollbacks on federal programs and aggressive tariffs — leave him confounded.

“I can’t rationalize it,” he said. “Because to me, it doesn’t make any sense what he is doing.”

‘Good Trouble’ in Trenton

Some passing motorists honked and pumped their fists while others raised middle fingers and gave thumbs down on April 19 as hundreds gathered in Trenton for a “Good Trouble March” that condemned the Trump administration.

Trump carried Trenton in 2024, winning about 55% of the votes cast in the presidential election. While Democrats dominate Wayne County, Trenton and other Downriver cities make the county’s purple southeast corner home to some of the most competitive state legislative races.

At least one home along the protesters’ path had Trump signs staring.

Borrowing the name “Good Trouble” from the words of the late activist and U.S. Congressman John Lewis, the rally featured a food pantry collection for a local church and brought politicians U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Attendees Leslie Olmstead, 68, and Ed Bondy, 70, of Rockwood, said they think the president is moving too fast with his policies.

Both said there’s some waste within the government, referring to Trump administration efforts to cut jobs seen as inefficient, but as Bondy put it, personnel is still needed.

Both also had major concerns with Trump’s tariffs and the fluctuating stock market; Olmstead expressed concern over Trump’s tariff policies, while Bondy, who worked for decades in the steel and auto industry, said his 401(k) has been collapsing.

“I can’t afford to lose $20,000 every two weeks,” he said. “It took me 40 years to get what I got in my 401(k).”

In perhaps one of its loudest rallying moments, the crowd repeated in unison phrases offered up by protest organizer Celina Peters of Rise Up Downriver.

The words: No to lies, authoritarianism, homophobia, transphobia, racism and genocide.

The loudest of them all: “No to Trump.”

Staff writer Clara Hendrickson, staff photographer Eric Seals and editor Emily Lawler contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit protesters rally against Trump administration