A day of protest, with Minnesotans urged to stay away from work, school and stores, was kicked off by community leaders, faith leaders and labor unions today, in protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge in the state.
The “Day of Truth & Freedom” protest comes in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, the unarmed woman killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Their demands include that ICE leave Minnesota, that the ICE officer who killed Good be legally held accountable, an end to additional federal funding for ICE, and for the agency to be investigated for human rights and constitutional violations.
Hundreds of local businesses in Minnesota have announced closures in solidarity. Thousands of people are expected to call out from work to join the action, while others will participate by not shopping today.
The Minneapolis city council endorsed the day of action and the general strike. The state’s cultural institutions, including the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota Children’s Museum, will be closed as well.
The day of action culminates with a march in downtown Minneapolis at 2pm local time. The march will end with a rally inside the Target Center, an arena downtown.
The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s federation of more than 1,000 affiliated local unions, has endorsed the day of action, along with dozens of local labor unions.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed to have made 3,000 arrests in Minnesota over the past six weeks. The US army put 1,500 soldiers on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota, as 3,000 immigration officers have been dispatched to the state by the Trump administration.
A DHS Spokesperson said in an email in response to the economic blackout, “This is beyond insane,” adding, “Why would these labor bosses not want these public safety threats out of their communities?”
The Spokesperson added, “These are the criminals these labor bosses are trying to protect,” the citing 23 uncaptioned photos of claimed undocumented immigrants with criminal records who have been arrested by ICE.
Nationwide, immigrants with no criminal record continue to make up the largest group in US immigration detention, which is at record levels.
The ICE operation ordered by the Trump administration in Minnesota has been going on for more than six weeks. The administration has characterised it as a public safety operation aimed at deporting criminals illegally in the country. Critics warn migrants with no criminal record and US citizens are being detained too.
100 Clergy Members Arrested
About 100 clergy members were arrested at the Minneapolis airport while holding a protest calling on US airlines to refuse to transport detainees arrested by ICE.
Faith in Minnesota, a nonprofit advocacy group that helped organise the protest, said that the clergy were also calling attention to airport and airline workers, who they said had been detained by ICE at work.
The group asked that airline companies “stand with Minnesotans in calling for ICE to immediately end its surge in the state.”
A Spokesman for the airports commission told the Minnesota Reformer that the arrests took place after the “permitted activity went beyond agreed upon terms” and was to done to protect the public safety and airport access.
Bishop Dwayne Royster, whose organisation Faith in Action is supporting local partners in Minneapolis during the strike, said, “We want ICE out of Minnesota, and we want ICE out of every state, with their extreme overreach.” He added, “We want Congress to stand up and provide oversight to ICE.”
Minnesota, and some of its cities, have so-called “sanctuary” policies, which limit the ways that local government and law enforcement cooperates with ICE.
The Trump administration has criticised these policies as a threat to public safety.
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