Twin Cities businesses close up shop to protest ICE operation

Published January 23, 2026 10:04am ET



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.

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