For the first No Kings marches in June 2025, an estimated 4 million people showed up at more than 800 protests. Last October, No Kings tallied more than 7 million protesters at 2,700 separate events in all 50 states. 

This anti-authoritarian movement continues to grow, with another national day of No Kings protests planned for March 28 — and continuing with a day of actions on May Day. Meanwhile, Bay Area residents continue to develop the kind of day-to-day immigrant protection work that drew the eyes of the world to Minnesota.

Here’s a guide for those who want to get involved.

Bay Area noncooperation training, March 14

The last time Bay Resistance led a noncooperation training, at Oakland Tech in early October, there were lines down the block as people filled a 950-seat auditorium, then an overflow room. Karla Zombro, the movement training director for We Are California, walked participants through the hallmarks of an authoritarian regime. 

“We are not dealing with the same deck of cards” as before, she said. 

She and her training partner, Jane Martin, the organizing director for Bay Resistance, talked about how protests have to be matched with widespread noncompliance, from neighbors who shelter families from ICE raids to juries that refused to indict peaceful protesters, to the 1.7 million people who canceled their Disney+ subscriptions after ABC, the network it owns, suspended Jimmy Kimmel under pressure from the Trump administration.

This Saturday’s training will focus on organizing, direct action, strikes, boycotts, and community defense, as well as preparation for May Day actions (see below).

Sat., March 14, 2026, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Mission High School, 3750 18th St., San Francisco
RSVP suggested.

A packed crowd at Oakland Technical High School in October 2025 for “Bay Get Ready,” a noncooperation training led by We Are California, Bay Resist, and other organizations. Credit: Esther Kaplan/The Oaklandside
No Kings Day march, March 28

People showed up for No Kings marches last October in cities small and large, in red states and blue. Several hundred showed up in Little Rock, Arkansas; thousands flooded New York City’s Times Square, packing streets for blocks all around; and an estimated 10,000 marched in Oakland, bringing their kids in strollers, their frog costumes, or their capoeira moves. 

“We have the power and are claiming it,” Indivisible East Bay, one of the many organizers, said in announcing the March 2026 day of action. “No thrones. No crowns. No kings.”

Indivisible emphasizes the organizers’ commitment to nonviolence and asks anyone who plans to come not to bring weapons and to commit to de-escalating any confrontations that may occur.

Sat., March 28, 12 noon to 2:30 p.m.
Protesters will gather at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, in front of City Hall

‘Turning the Tables on Oppression’ vigil, March 31

Cindy McPherson, a leader with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, says the coalition began its immigration court vigils last summer, “after the first time someone was abducted from the Concord court” in Contra Costa County. They wanted to offer witness and care for those showing up for appointments, and to show that “we see them and we’re standing for human dignity.”

Volunteers don’t chant, she said. They wear prayer stoles, they bring snacks or hot coffee, they hold signs that say things like “Keep Families Together,” and they sing. They hand out information about ACILIP, the Alameda County rapid response network, to anyone coming for an ICE check-in (see below). Some days, they give material aid. “There is power in our ongoing presence,” she said, “as we’ve accompanied people while the immigration court system, rules, and judges keep changing.”

McPherson, a congregant with Chochmat HaLev Synagogue in Berkeley, said no one needs special training to participate; there are several shifts each day and anyone can sign up for a date and time that works for them. She said the group has a special action planned this month to honor the “sacred resistance” of Passover and Holy Week at the San Francisco ICE building, “calling out the corporations complicit in ICE kidnappings and the genocide in Gaza.”

“Turning the Tables on Oppression” vigil details: Tues., March 31, 2025, 12 noon, San Francisco ICE building, 630 Sansome St.

Routine vigils take place at San Francisco ICE building, 630 Sansome St., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 7:30, 9:30, or 11:30 a.m., for 2-hour shifts.

Vigils also take place at Concord immigration court, 1855 Gateway Blvd., Tuesdays 7:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m.; Wednesdays and Thursdays, 7:30 or 11:30 a.m., for 2-hour shifts.

May Day Strong, May 1

A national coalition of labor organizations, from the National Education Association to the Working Families Party, has called a national day of action and walkouts for May Day. The organization is inviting local rallies, marches, and a day of “no school, no work, no shopping.” The theme? “It’s workers over billionaires.”

Those who are interested are invited to attend a national organizing call on Wednesday, March 25. Register here.

‘Adopt a day laborer corner’
The Home Depot at 4000 Alameda Ave. in East Oakland. Credit: Amir Aziz/The Oaklandside

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network has asked communities across the nation to join in what Gabriela Galicia, executive director of Street Level Health Project, a part of the network, calls “an act of care and resistance in the face of attacks on the migrant community.”

“While deportation raids are not new, the scale and severity requires a new response,” she said. The goal of Oakland’s Adopt-a-Corner foot patrols is to serve as eyes and ears, able to alert day laborers, vendors, and other vulnerable communities about the presence of federal agents. The effort has recently expanded to support Oakland school communities during drop-offdrop off and pick-uppick up times.

“Foot patrollers across Oakland are creating a visible presence of allyship,” Galicia said. “Together, they spread hope, not panic.”

Those interested in joining a foot patrol can sign up for intake here. Volunteers are taught how to identify federal agents and how to legally observe and document. 

Become an ACILEP rapid responder

After massive ICE deployments in many American cities, lots of Oaklanders are living on edge, and unconfirmed reports of ICE sightings can stir panic. Federal agents have been spotted in Oakland, including a recent arrest of a truck driver near the port; an ICE chase of a driver in West Oakland, causing a car crash near a school; and ICE arrests at local courthouses.

ACILEP, the Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership, has set up a hotline — 510-241-4011, staffed 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily — to channel reports about possible ICE activity; the group then deploys volunteers to confirm the presence of federal agents before alerting the broader community.

ACILEP conducts regular virtual trainings for Oaklanders and other county residents interested in getting trained as volunteers.

Those who are interested can register here. The next training takes place on March 26, 2026, at 6 p.m. Register for details.

Bay Resistance pods

Jane Martin, the organizing director of Bay Resistance, encourages Bay Area residents interested in resisting authoritarianism to join a pod, which she sees as a critical way for people to “show up for each other” while also being connected to “a larger movement and a larger strategy.”

“There’s a value to having a presence in the streets in high- risk areas even before federal troops arrive,” she said, “having people in place to document civil rights violations.”

A pod, she said, is made up of 10 to 20 people and can be built from a pre-existing community — a congregation, a group of soccer parents, a knitting group — or people can just sign up and get assigned to a neighborhood pod based on their address. Bay Resistance shares information about its campaigns and projects with the pods on a weekly basis — and pods can bring ideas to share with the network as well.Bay Resistance is both registering existing groupings as pods and assigning individuals to pods based on the neighborhood they live in.

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