Sarah Balmer of Covington Township was pretty sure her adopted daughter would safely return home from a trip on Saturday, but she wasn’t certain.
Balmer told more than 1,000 people gathered on Courthouse Square for a “No Kings” protest Saturday that she had adopted her daughter from China in 2009 and, for many years, had no worries about her security.
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A dissenter looks on from across Washington Ave. during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees watch from the Gettysburg monument during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An attendee waves an upside-down U.S. flag during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Lackawanna County commissioner Bill Gaughan speaks during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An attendee waves a flag with a peace symbol during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Attendees gather on Courthouse Square and hold their signs during the ‘No Kings’ protest in Scranton on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
But, with the advent of arrests of minorities by ICE agents under the current administration, that sense of ease is gone, she told the crowd.
She recalled seeing ICE agents as she and her daughter were on their way out of a theater production in November.
She saw the agents approaching a postal worker and grew concerned.
“At first I thought they were arresting the mailman,” she said.
So, Balmer warned her daughter Lily Mei to stay in the car while she got out and began recording the agents.
The agents came from a nearby home and saw her video recording them. They recorded her back and took photos.
“I’m sure they have identified me as a woke enemy of the state,” she said to the crowd, who responded with laughter.
She recalls another incident during which ICE agents detained an adopted youngster.
When asked for a reason, they said, “Her appearance didn’t match her last name.”
In another incident, ICE agents were detaining a young woman in the Scranton area when one of the agents said, “I think we have the wrong person.”
The other responded, “They all look alike.”
“Can you imagine that?” Balmer said. “We live in a nation of immigrants. This is unacceptable.”
Determined and hopeful
David Snyder was attending the rally after a major shift in his mindset and his politics.
Snyder voted for President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
Snyder grew up as a conservative, but always valued the rule of law and the Constitution.
So, after Trump, having lost the 2020 election, questioned the results of that election, Snyder could no longer support him, he said.
Failing to respect the results of an election was the breaking point for Snyder, and he became an Independent.
On Saturday, he stood with his friend Bob Badick, with whom he graduated from high school in 1984. Badick is a lifelong Democrat and the two had always remained friends, in spite of their political differences.
Now, the two stood together supporting democracy.
Both men said they were glad to see the robust turnout for the event, in spite of temperatures hovering just above freezing.
“It’s about restoring democracy,” Snyder said.
Tony Acquaviva has never been reluctant to speak his mind.
The Elmhurst Township man was arrested decades ago in Washington, D.C., protesting the Vietnam War.
Saturday’s rally was yet another opportunity to fight for democracy and humanity, he said.
He’s passionate in his commitment to resist the “cruelty and inhumanity” of the current administration.
He believes future elections, if they are conducted fairly, will allow the current administration and legislators who support them to be voted out.
“That’s if we’re able to hold a fair election,” he said. “That’s my hope.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan, who recently denounced agreements allowing local police to perform certain functions of federal immigration officers, took to the podium amidst robust applause.
“We should ask ourselves what kind of people we are and not what party we are from,” he said, adding, “The measure of a nation is not its wealth.”
The current administration is centered around fear, he said. Fears build bombs, walls, and governments that eventually fail, he said.
The current administration’s disdain for democracy is loud, but not strong, he said. Love and decency are like a river, which in the long run will quietly prevail and change things around it as it passes through.
“Choose the path of empathy, courage, truth,” he said. “Not to merely win an election, but to care for others.”