The following remarks were given by Democrats Abroad Chair Karin Williams during the No Dictators! demonstration Saturday 28 March at Stortorget in Malmö.
Opening
"We are standing in Sweden — a country that has defended democracy, the rule of law, and human dignity as cornerstones of its national identity for generations. We stand here today as people who share those values. And we stand here because, right now, those values are under serious and escalating pressure in the country many of us call home.
"This rally is called 'No Dictators'. That is not hyperbole. It is a description.
"Let me be specific about what we mean.
The man in charge
"The president of the United States no longer represents the people, nor is he upholding the laws and Constitution as he is sworn to do. Instead, he is eroding citizens' rights, committing war crimes, plundering public lands, rebuffing allies, and creating global chaos through wars and tariffs.
"The United States is governed by a man who is not well. A man who relies on sycophants and yes-men. A man who gets his information through meme-filled videos. A man whose administration hunts down political adversaries, minorities, and those who speak truth to power. His administration is creating concentration camps across the United States and disappearing people to foreign countries. His sweeps have ensnared citizens, as well as those who have legal standing to be in the United States and who contribute to American society and wellbeing.
On the war with Iran
"On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched joint military strikes on Iran. This war was not authorized by Congress. The Constitution of the United States is explicit: only Congress has the power to declare war. That power was not exercised here.
"What makes this even more damning is the context in which the war began. Just one day before the bombs fell, Oman's Foreign Minister announced that a breakthrough had been reached — that Iran had agreed never to stockpile enriched uranium and to full verification by the IAEA. Peace, he said, was "within reach." The administration chose war anyway.
"Today, as we stand here, that war is in its 26th day. The UN human rights office has characterized the strikes as a potential war crime under the Rome Statute. By early March, over 6,600 civilian structures had been struck — including residential buildings, schools, medical centers, and Red Crescent facilities. The conflict has now spread: Lebanon has suffered over 1,000 deaths, Gulf nations are absorbing missile strikes, and approximately 2,000 vessels and 20,000 seafarers are stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.
"Multiple polls now show that a clear majority of Americans — 59% in one Pew survey, 54% in a Quinnipiac poll — believe this war was a mistake. The American people did not want this war. They were not asked.
"Iran's Foreign Minister has accused the administration of showing Trump curated videos of successful strikes — essentially "selling" the war daily, not just to the public, but to the president himself. That is not how a democracy conducts war. That is how an emperor does.
On the detention camps
"Inside the United States, something is happening that should alarm every person in this square.
"As of January 2026, ICE reported holding around 73,000 — yes, 73,000 — individuals in detention. The highest level since the agency was founded in 2003. For the first time in American history, thousands of people are held in hastily-constructed tent camps on U.S. soil, where conditions have been described as brutal.
"At least 10 people have died in ICE custody or during enforcement operations so far in 2026, following 32 deaths in 2025 — the highest annual toll since the agency's creation outside the COVID pandemic. These are not statistics. These are people. Among them: Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, who died following alleged medical neglect, and Emmanuel Damas, who died while handcuffed to a hospital bed in Arizona.
"And we all remember Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse, and Renée Nicole Macklin Good — both shot and killed by federal immigration agents in January 2026.
"This is not border security or deportation of the "worst of the worst." This is raw power and greed, focused on sowing fear and compliance among the residents of the United States.
"The private prison companies profiting from this expansion include GEO Group, whose former consultant Tom Homan is now the White House "border tsar," and whose former executive David Venturella now oversees ICE detention contracts. During earnings calls, these companies have described the expansion as a significant growth opportunity, posting record revenues in 2025. Warehouses are being bought across the country at inflated prices to house the detainees.
"This is not border security. This is a detention industry, built at speed, stripped of oversight, and profitable to those in power.
On civil rights and the constitution
"The assault is not limited to immigrants. The UN's top human rights official has raised alarm over enforcement operations conducted in hospitals, houses of worship, courthouses, schools, and private homes — and warned that children are missing school and medical appointments out of fear that their parents may not return.
"But there is something that strikes at the very heart of constitutional democracy — and it concerns every single American, documented or not.
"The Fourth Amendment is unambiguous: it guarantees the right to be secure in your home against unreasonable searches and seizures, and requires a warrant signed by a judge to enter. That amendment was written specifically in response to British colonial officers who kicked down doors whenever they pleased. The founders put it in the Constitution so it could never happen again. And yet — here we are.
"ICE has closed its internal Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, repeatedly defied court orders, and moved to ensure that all investigations into its own conduct remain under its own control. By January 2026, sixteen DHS shootings since July 2025 had been declared justified by federal officials — before investigations were even completed. Not one federal officer has been held accountable.
"And who is carrying out these operations? ICE deportation officers now receive less training than almost any other armed federal agents in the country. A whistleblower who taught at the ICE training academy described watching the program dismantle itself — with critical courses on the Constitution, lawful arrests, and use-of-force limits stripped from the curriculum. He testified that cadets were graduating without demonstrating a grasp of the law they were meant to enforce. Nearly half failed a written open-book exam on the Fourth Amendment.
"Think about what that means. Thousands of armed federal agents, with the authority to use deadly force, entering American homes — and they cannot pass an open-book test on when that is lawful.
"The administration has also moved to denaturalize up to 200 U.S. citizens per month in 2026, and has sought to eliminate constitutionally protected birthright citizenship. This is not a legal grey area. These are fundamental rights, enshrined in the Constitution, being systematically dismantled.
"When a government arms undertrained officers, strips their constitutional education, dismantles oversight, and moves to strip citizenship itself — that government is not enforcing the law. It is replacing it.
On voting rights
"And then there is the vote — the most fundamental tool citizens have to hold their government accountable.
"On March 17, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act, which would require all Americans to produce a passport or birth certificate in order to register to vote. The Brennan Center has called it the most restrictive voting bill ever passed by Congress — one that would prevent millions of eligible American citizens from voting.
"Research shows that 21 million Americans of voting age lack ready access to those documents. Half of all Americans don't have a passport. Millions of women who have changed their names after marriage would face additional hurdles. Groups most at risk include older voters who never received birth certificates, rural voters, and trans people whose documents may not match their current identity.
"Trump himself told Republican lawmakers that passage of the bill 'will guarantee the midterms' and that 'we'll never lose a race for 50 years'. He did not frame this as protecting democracy. He framed it as winning.
"Trump has also proposed banning mail-in ballots and threatened to impose voting rules by executive order, bypassing Congress entirely. Yes, we know these moves are illegal. But while challenges move through the court system, the United States suffers.
"When a leader moves to prevent citizens from voting him out, we have a word for that. It is not 'president'. It is 'dictator'.
What we stand for
"We are not here out of hatred. We are not here to wish America harm. We are here because we love what America is supposed to be — and we refuse to pretend that what is happening is normal.
"The United States was founded on a radical idea: that no person stands above the law. That power must be checked. That the people are sovereign. Those ideas inspired democracies around the world, including here in Sweden.
"Today, we say clearly and calmly: we see what is happening. We will not look away. And we stand in solidarity with every American — every lawyer, every election official, every journalist, every ordinary citizen — who is standing up and saying the same.
"The American people themselves are waking up. Majorities now oppose the war in Iran, oppose what ICE is doing, and see through the SAVE Act for what it is. The resistance is real, and it is growing.
"No dictators.
"Not here.
"Not anywhere.
"Tack!"