Minnesota community leaders, unions, and faith leaders have joined forces for a “no work, no school, no shopping” blackout day of protests against the ICE surge in their state.
It is called the “Day of Truth & Freedom” protest and it comes in the the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Good, the unarmed, U.S. citizen killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026.
The people of Minnesota demand ICE leaves their state, that the ICE officer who killed Good be held legally accountable, the put an end to additional federal funding for ICE, and the agency be investigated for constitutional and human rights violations.
Who Is Involved in the ICE Out
Local businesses are closed in solidarity. The Minneapolis City Council endorsed the blackout day of action and general strike. The day culminates with a march downtown at 2 p.m. local time.
“We are going to be having dangerously cold weather on Friday -10F with wind chills. Like the high is going to be -10F with wind chills of up to -20F,” stated Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the Minnesota Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
“We are a northern state, and we are built for the cold, and we are going to show up, but folks are going to need to pay attention to not just the march, but what people are doing, the individual stories of solidarity that people are going to be doing,” she added.
The Minnesota AFL-CIO of more than 1,000 affiliated local unions endorsed the day of action alongside several local labor unions.
Keiran Knutson, president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7250 in Minneapolis told The Guardian, “I think what generated the idea for this action comes out of the need to figure out what we can meaningfully do to stop it. The government in the state of Minnesota has not offered any path towards stopping the attacks, this violence.”
“After weeks of living under the heavy weight of this racist campaign of terror by ICE agents … Nothing runs without the working class in this country, and today we’re going to show our power,” Knuston asserted.
Stores that have chosen to remain open have posted signs welcoming everyone except federal officers unless they have a valid judicial warrant.
Coming Together Against ICE
A childcare worker explained they are shutting down for today after consulting and receiving tremendous support from the families of the children they care for.
“We had time to ask families that we serve if they would be on board with shutting down and we got a hugely positive response. We serve families that are on childcare assistance, families that pay out of pocket. So they were all in agreement, even ones that have been trying to go to work, even during this time where they were fearful of being out of their houses. So it was really the families. They all stood up for it too.”
DHS Response to Blackout Protest
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims to have arrested 3,000 people in the state over the last six weeks. The U.S. military has 1,500 soldiers on standby to possibly be deployed to Minnesota to join the 3,000 immigration officers dispatched by the Trump administration.
“This is beyond insane. Why would these labor bosses not want these public safety threats out of their communities? These are the criminals these labor bosses are trying to protect,” questioned a spokesperson for DHS in an email response to the economic blackout.
“Nationwide, immigrants with no criminal record continue to make up the largest group in US immigration detention, which is at record levels,” reported The Guardian.
By Jeanette Vietti
Source:
The Guardian: Minnesotans strike to protest ICE surge in state: ‘No work, no school, no shopping’
NBC News: Business in Minneapolis are planning to close Friday to protest ICE
Democracy Now!: ICE out of Minnesota: Unions & Churches Lead Economic Blackout in “Day of Truth and Freedom”
Featured Image Courtesy of David Erickson’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
