Thousands of demonstrators braved dangerous cold to march through Minneapolis and demand an end to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city, part of a wider “ICE OUT!” action that organizers billed as a general strike.
Organizers estimated as many as 50,000 people took to the streets despite temperatures that plunged to minus 29 Celsius. Minneapolis police did not provide a crowd estimate. Many protesters later moved indoors to the Target Center, the downtown arena that was more than half full.
- Advertisement -
The daylong mobilization came amid heightened tensions over a federal surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota and a fatal shooting earlier this month of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, by an ICE agent. Organizers said their demands include legal accountability in the shooting and a withdrawal of the 3,000 federal law enforcement officers sent to the state.
Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis on Thursday to show support for ICE officers and to encourage local leaders and activists to lower tensions. He said ICE is carrying out an important mission to detain immigration violators.
In one of the day’s most visible actions, local police arrested dozens of clergy members at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport after they knelt in the roadway, sang hymns and prayed, calling for Mr. Trump to pull back the federal deployment. Officers zip-tied and bused the protesters after repeated orders to clear the road, police said. Organizers said about 100 clergy members were arrested.
Faith in Minnesota, a nonprofit advocacy group involved in the demonstrations, said clergy were also drawing attention to airport and airline workers who they said had been detained by ICE while on the job. The group urged airlines to “stand with Minnesotans in calling for ICE to immediately end its surge in the state.”
The “general strike” component rippled beyond the march route. Organizers said bars, restaurants and shops across the state closed to show opposition to the raids and detentions. Minnesota’s large corporate community has largely remained silent. Minneapolis-based Target, under scrutiny in the past year for retreating from diversity commitments, has faced renewed criticism for not speaking publicly about enforcement activity in or around its stores. State lawmakers have pressed the retailer for guidance given to employees if ICE officers enter store premises.
“The silence from the corporations in the state is deafening,” said Lizz Winstead, a comedian and abortion rights advocate who hosted the Target Center rally.
At the arena, a succession of Indigenous, religious, labor and community leaders called for ICE to withdraw and for an independent investigation into Good’s death. “Make no mistake, we are facing a full federal occupation by the United States government through the arm of ICE on unceded Dakota land,” said Rachel Dionne-Thunder, vice president of the Indigenous Protector Movement.
Reports of aggressive enforcement tactics, including the detention of a U.S. citizen taken from his home in his underwear and the detention of schoolchildren, have added to public anger and fear, organizers said. Among the cases drawing attention was that of a five-year-old boy, Liam Ramos, seen with officers at his home in Columbia Heights.
For some, the stakes outweighed the weather. Miguel Hernandez, a community organizer who closed his south Minneapolis business, Lito’s Bakery, said he layered up before heading out. “If this were any other time, no one would’ve gone out,” he said. “For us, it’s a message of solidarity with our community … and a message to our politicians that they have to do more than grandstand on the news.”
Mr. Trump, a Republican elected in 2024 on promises to enforce immigration laws and crack down on violent criminals, has escalated the deployment of federal officers to Democratic-led cities and states. The strategy has deepened political polarization in Minnesota and beyond, even as the administration argues that enforcement is necessary to uphold the law.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
