{"id":10519,"date":"2025-10-19T02:58:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T02:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/10519\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T02:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T02:58:26","slug":"san-antonio-no-kings-protesters-denounce-federal-immigration-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/10519\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio ‘No Kings’ protesters denounce federal immigration crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands gathered in downtown San Antonio for the “No Kings” march, shouting “Immigrants are welcome here,” in protest of President Donald Trump’s policies. The protest\u00a0– one of thousands of events held across the nation to denounce Trump’s actions\u00a0– kicked off on Saturday afternoon in Travis Park.<\/p>\n

The event is part of the second round of “No Kings” protests. The first occurred in June, drawing several thousand people to the streets of San Antonio to criticize Trump’s crackdown on immigration and other policies.<\/p>\n

On Saturday afternoon, throngs of protesters wove their way through the downtown grid, calling out Immigration and Customs Enforcement and threats to democracy. An organizer with the group 50501\u00a0SATX<\/a>, which helped plan the march, estimated the turnout\u00a0was close to or slightly larger than the first “No Kings” protest\u00a0– which drew about\u00a010,000 people.<\/p>\n

Mary Claire Munroe and her husband Mike Munroe marched along Martin Street. Mary wore a pickle costume, while her husband sported a red apron with the words\u00a0“Aunt Teefah” and a blonde wig in pigtails.<\/p>\n

\"Several<\/p>\n

Several thousand participants marched through the streets of San Antonio for the “No Kings” march to protest Trump policies on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Ethan Rocke\/San Antonio Express-News)<\/p>\n

“I’m dressed as a pickle because I’m not sour on our country,” Mary said. “I think we’ve got someone that thinks he’s a king, that thinks he can do whatever he wants. I’m here to say we’re in a pickle, but we’re\u00a0gonna get out of it.”<\/p>\n

Prior to the march, Congressmen\u00a0Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and Greg Casar, D-Austin, offered words of encouragement.<\/p>\n

“There is no hero coming to save you,” Casar\u00a0said, asking everyone to introduce themselves to their neighbors. “These are the people you’re going to work with to save this country.”<\/p>\n

Castro told the crowd that Trump considers himself a king and the country his kingdom.<\/p>\n

“There’s only one way out of this,” Castro said. “In November 2026, every single person here needs to march to the polls,” alluding to the midterm congressional elections and statewide contests for governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. senator.\u00a0 “And in 2028, we’re going to say adios to Donald Trump.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Thousands march in S.A. \u2018No Kings’ protest as threats, chants and unity collide<\/a><\/p>\n

As protesters assembled,\u00a0speakers led them in a call-and-response chant, asking them what to do when the rights of immigrants, trans people, workers and others are under attack.<\/p>\n

“Stand up, fight back,” the crowd called in response.<\/p>\n

Among them was Suzy Sledge, wearing a monarch butterfly cape and carrying a sign that read “the only good orange monarch is a butterfly.”<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping to show solidarity with all the people who can’t take this anymore,” she said, noting that she hoped to send a message to Gov. Greg Abbott, as well.<\/p>\n

Abbott deployed state troopers and National Guard soldiers to Austin<\/a> in advance of the city’s own planned protests, calling the demonstrations “antifa-linked.” Ahead of the\u00a0June protests, Abbott sent more than 5,000 members of the Texas National Guard and more than 2,000 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to Texas cities.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

Protesters march in downtown San Antonio during the “No Kings” protest on Saturday, October 18, 2025. (Saul Pink\/San Antonio Express-News)<\/p>\n

Sledge, 72, said some of her friends wanted to come but were afraid to attend, citing rumors of National Guard presence.\u00a0Like many others in the crowd, she also carried a sign with several American flags, “to show that I love America.”<\/p>\n

“People have said it’s just a hate rally,” Sledge said. “It’s a love rally.”<\/p>\n

John Grey, a San Antonio native and graduate of LEE High School, stood in the shade at Travis Park with a shield plastered with “FDT” stickers.<\/p>\n

He cited Trump slashing funds for special education and environmental protections, as well as ICE “grabbing grandparents and children, pulling them out of school” as his reason for attending.<\/p>\n

“He’s destroying our Constitution, and he’s destroying our democracy,” Grey said.<\/p>\n

At one end of the park just after 4\u00a0p.m., two men and a woman\u00a0– \u00a0all wearing “Make America Great Again” hats\u00a0– briefly interacted with the protesters. One waved a large flag with Trump’s face on it. A few protesters sang in their faces and shouted at them.<\/p>\n

The trio arrived at 3:30 p.m., according to an event organizer. A few San Antonio police officers stood across the street and observed.<\/p>\n

“Don’t engage with them because that’s what they want out of you,” an organizer said through a megaphone.<\/p>\n

By 4:30 p.m., the trio departed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Charles\u00a0Broadnax, 78, sat in a folding chair and puffed on cigars as he watched protesters walk by. He said he was too old to walk in the march.<\/p>\n

“There is a young generation out here,” he said. “Seeing and knowing that they’re affected by all this inspires me. Even a third grader can figure out that something is wrong. Change is coming from those young people.”<\/p>\n

This article originally published at San Antonio ‘No Kings’ protesters denounce federal immigration crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands gathered in downtown San Antonio for the “No Kings” march, shouting “Immigrants are welcome here,” in protest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7653,145,7652,8406,9401,82,84,83,9402],"class_list":["post-10519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-antonio","tag-donald-trump","tag-downtown-san-antonio","tag-kings","tag-protesters","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-suzy-sledge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}