Communities in Minnesota began an economic strike in record-breaking cold on Friday in protest of the Trump administration’s ongoing anti-immigration crackdown and in the aftermath of the killing of Minneapolis woman Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
Demonstrators are ditching school, work and leisure for the picket lines to participate in “Day of Truth and Freedom” protests organized by local community leaders and labour unions.
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ICE detains 5-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home from school -
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ICE shooting: Anger boils over with nationwide protests in US after killing of Renee Good -
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Civil rights lawyer reacts to deadly shooting of woman in Minneapolis by ICE agent -
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Minnesota officials dispute federal account of fatal ICE shooting
Minnesotans are demanding that ICE leave the state. They are also asking that no additional funding be allocated to the federal agency in the upcoming Congressional budget; that ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who shot and killed Good on Jan. 7, be held legally accountable; and that Minnesota and national companies cease economic relations with ICE and refuse ICE entry or use of their property for staging grounds.
“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 movement’s website says.
On Friday, as protests ramped up, over 100 priests were arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for protesting ICE after they gathered to demand that airlines stop providing deportation flights.
Demonstrators stood and knelt outside Terminal 1’s departures area, where they were later led away by law enforcement, according to the Minnesota Reformer, a local news publication.
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Spokesperson for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, Jeff Lea, said in an email to the outlet that the airport “worked in advance with event organizers to best accommodate their right to freedom of expression while also ensuring uninterrupted operations.”
“When the permitted activity went beyond the agreed-upon terms, MSP Airport Police began taking necessary action, including arrests, to protect public safety, airport security and access to Terminal 1,” Lea said, without confirming how many arrests were made.
A long list of Minnesota businesses have closed in solidarity with the movement, from coffee shops and breweries to record stores and cannabis dispensaries.
In a statement on Thursday, the Minneapolis city council expressed support for the strike, which will end with a march in downtown Minneapolis on Friday afternoon.
“When residents are brutalized and profiled, families are torn apart, and children are arrested, our communities are not any safer. We continue to demand that ICE, and all federal agents, leave our state immediately,” its statement reads.
Minnesota’s labour movement, the AFL-CIO, a federation of more than 1,000 local unions, also endorsed the strike.
“On Friday, union members will join with our fellow Minnesotans to reject fear and speak with one voice,” it said in a statement.
In an email to The Guardian on Friday, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said in response to the economic blackout, “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,” the spokesperson said, citing more than 20 uncaptioned images of people it claims are undocumented immigrants with criminal records who have been arrested by ICE, according to the outlet.
The DHS said Wednesday that its operation in Minnesota has resulted in the arrest of 10,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”
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On Thursday, ICE agents in Minneapolis detained Liam Ramos, a five-year-old boy, and his father as they arrived home from preschool.
CBS News Minnesota said Thursday that the Columbia Heights Public School District, where Liam attended school, reported two other children were taken on Tuesday, including a 17-year-old boy who was on his way to school.
Marc Prokosch, a lawyer for the Ramos family, said his clients had an active asylum case and presented paperwork confirming that the father and son arrived in the U.S. at a port of entry, an official crossing point.
“They did not come here illegally. They are not criminals.”
Earlier this week, the Trump administration readied 1,500 active-duty soldiers for possible deployment to Minnesota, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used 19th-century law that would allow him to employ active-duty troops as law enforcement.
As public pushback swelled, the Trump administration announced it was extending its mission on Thursday, when ICE launched “Operation Catch of the Day,” an anti-immigration campaign in Maine.
The launch was announced as Vice-President JD Vance gave a speech in Minnesota, saying he had travelled to the state to “support” ICE agents and “tone down the temperature a bit.”
As of November 2025, there were 65,735 people in ICE detention, 48,377 of whom — or 73.6 per cent — had no criminal conviction, according to TRAC Immigration data. According to The Guardian’s data, the Trump administration has arrested more than 328,000 people and deported nearly 327,000.
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