Hundreds of Minnesota businesses are closing on Friday to force an “economic blackout” in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the state.
The “ICE Out” protests, planned as the largest coordinated protest action to date, are concentrated in the Twin Cities area, composed of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Despite below-freezing temperatures, over 100 groups are mobilizing to produce the event, including labor unions, faith leaders, and liberal community activist groups, such as Indivisible Twin Cities and Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described “revolutionary Marxist-Leninist” group.
More than 700 businesses are expected to participate in the day’s events, according to Kare11, along with dozens of places of worship. Organizers are urging residents to avoid shopping, stay home from work or school, and march to a 2 p.m. rally in downtown Minneapolis, which will end with a second protest at Target Center. The closures and demonstrations mark Renee Good’s death during an encounter with an ICE officer. They are designed to place pressure on ICE to leave the state, and to target Home Depot, Target, Hilton, Enterprise, and Delta, lobbying them to rally against immigration operations.
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“It is time to suspend the normal order of business to demand immediate cessation of ICE actions in MN, accountability for federal agents who have caused loss of life and abuse to Minnesota residents and call for Congress to immediately intervene,” the website for the Friday protests reads. “Demand the businesses that are supporting ICE take a stand with US and not those terrorizing our communities.”
The “day of truth and freedom” protests have drawn some backlash from locals, who worry about economic repercussions for businesses that have already been affected by ICE protests and riotous acts that have embroiled the city over the past month.
“The effort seems designed to send a message to ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement),” Twin Cities Business magazine editor Adam Platt wrote this week. “The message? Whatever harm you want to impose on our community, we can impose a bit more. Shutting down workplaces that primarily employ tipped workers and Latino folks is merely going to impose more harm on people who have seen the most financial loss during ICE’s reign of error. Saturday will dawn, and they will be a day’s wages poorer, and the activists will say, ‘We won!’”
The marches in downtown Minneapolis come despite dangerously cold temperatures, with forecasts in the single to double digits below zero.
“Minnesotans understand that when we’re in a snow emergency … we all have to respond, and it makes us do things differently,” she said. “And what’s happening with ICE in our community, in our state, means that we can’t respond as business as usual,” Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities told the Associated Press.
The protests have been ongoing in Minnesota since Good was killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, sparking instant controversy due to sweeping differences of opinion on whether the shooting was justified. Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have characterized ICE as terrorists and urged residents to take to the streets, though they are pressing for peaceful demonstrations.
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Minnesota businesses have been particularly affected by the unrest, as some customers have stayed home and demonstrators target enterprises they see as aiding ICE. In a lawsuit filed earlier this month seeking to block ICE operations, the Twin Cities asserted that some businesses have reported sales drops of up to 80%.
The Trump administration has refused to back away from ICE operations, standing by the officer who shot Good and surging 3,000 personnel to the Twin Cities. Earlier this week, officials announced they had made 3,000 arrests over the past six weeks, including the “most dangerous” criminals such as rapists and domestic abusers. At the time, Border Patrol Commander at Large Gregory Bovino, whose agency has aided ICE enforcement, accused Frey and Walz of relying on “heated rhetoric and accusations that distract from the facts” to fuel protests.
