ICE, datacenters, voter suppression: key issues expected to draw thousands in US to protests

The Good Trouble Brass Band performs at the No Kings protest on 28 March 2026 in Austin, Texas. Photograph: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images View image in fullscreen The Good Trouble Brass Band performs at the No Kings protest on 28 March 2026 in Austin, Texas. Photograph: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images ICE, datacenters, voter suppression: key issues expected to draw thousands in US to protests Demonstrations planned across the US this weekend will focus on three issues likely to define the midterm elections Thousands of Americans are expected to take to the streets this weekend in mass protests around issues likely to define the midterm elections: widespread violence from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, voter suppression and datacenter construction. The protests – some recently planned in response to last week’s ICE shootings, others an annual event with new urgency – will take place not just in big cities and progressive towns, but also in rural and red areas. US protests have been on the rise in Trump’s second term – with millions rallying against authoritarianism, ICE enforcement, wars in Iran and Gaza and billionaire greed. But progressives aren’t the only ones demanding change; Saturday’s protests against datacenters are organized by conservatives against big AI. ICE Out More than 70 ICE Out rallies are set to take place across the country on 18 July, as part of a National Day of Action to demand justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, two men fatally shot by ICE agents in the same week this month. The killings of Salgado Araujo and Durán Guerrero have sparked mounting calls to remove ICE from the streets, with the latter accounting for the 11th fatal shooting by federal immigration officials since the start of Trump’s second term. The anti-ICE actions, which include demonstrations and vigils, are sponsored by a coalition of national progressive organizations, including the Answer Coalition and 50501. “A lot of groups are signing on because we agree that ICE is terrorizing our communities, that we need to stop ICE terror, and to abolish ICE,” said Hunter Dunn, the national press coordinator for 50501. Organizers are not only demanding justice for victims of ICE shootings but also the arrests of officers who are responsible, said Paul Ramirez, a co-founder of the immigrant rights group Valley Defense, which is holding an “ICE Out” rally and vigil in North Hollywood, California. “People are tired of seeing this every single day,” he said, “but we’re going to continue fighting regardless.” Voting rights A coalition of voting rights groups has planned nearly 700 events across three days as part of the Good Trouble Lives On national weekend of action, which honors the legacy of the late congressman and voting rights advocate John Lewis. Last year’s debut event coincided with the fifth anniversary of Lewis’s death and drew tens of thousands of people on