With Twin Cities Under Siege by ICE, Minnesota Moves Toward a General Strike

There is a general strike on the horizon in Minneapolis. More than 50 Minnesota labor unions, nonprofits, and other community organizations have signed onto a January 23 Day of Action, which calls for a complete “economic blackout” in the state. “No work. No school. No shopping,” its posters declare.

Some of Minnesota’s largest labor unions are leading the way, including the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, SEIU 26, and UNITE HERE Local 17. This has led some to label the upcoming Day of Action a general strike, with others referring to it as an economic blackout. This would be the first general strike in Minnesota since 1934, when the Teamsters set off a months-long work stoppage in the state.

Simon Elliott, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), one of the organizations that has signed on to the call, said, “This is the clearest and most powerful way that we can send a message, both to the Trump administration and to immigrant members of our community.” A list of businesses that have pledged to close down for the day is circulating online, with more joining by the hour.

There are currently roughly 3,000 federal immigration agents reportedly in Minnesota. Renee Nicole Good’s killing by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross on January 7 set off a wave of protests, not only in the state but across the country, as Americans grow increasingly frustrated by ICE operations in their cities. Just a week after Good’s killing, ICE officers shot a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis, who they claimed attempted to assault an officer with a shovel. Recent polling from YouGov suggests that 46 percent of Americans support the abolition of ICE, the highest ever recorded

On January 19, ICE officers entered the home of a Hmong-American man in St. Paul with guns drawn and forced him out onto the street wearing only a bathrobe and underwear. Images of the arrest circulated online, eliciting condemnation from St. Paul’s mayor, who called him a family friend, and other officials. Residents have stepped up to counter ICE’s tactics with their own community organizing and mutual aid. Driving through the streets of Minneapolis, residents stand on many intersections with whistles around their necks, waiting to alert their neighbors to the presence of federal immigration authorities. Temperatures dipped well into the negatives over the weekend, and still, residents were out on the streets.

All of this has turned the Day of Action from a call by a loose collective of immigration organizations like Unidos MN and faith leaders pushing for a “Day of Truth and Freedom” into a mass mobilization against ICE’s presence in the state.

Lucho Gomez, the director of campaign strategies at Centro De Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (CTUL), has his eyes on the horizon. “This is an opportunity to assess where we need to pivot to ramp up the pressure to get ICE out of Minnesota,” he told Truthout. For Gomez and others, the Day of Action is not the end goal of their organizing, but rather a stop on the way to achieving their demands — which include, most obviously, ICE leaving the state and ending Operation Metro Surge, but also Congress putting a stop to additional ICE funding.

“This is an opportunity to assess where we need to pivot to ramp up the pressure to get ICE out of Minnesota.”

CTUL has been involved in labor organizing in the Twin Cities since 2007. They focus their efforts on immigrant workers who have historically been left out of the labor movement. According to Gomez, this has allowed him and his colleagues to leverage their preexisting contacts to build out mutual aid and community support networks during the ICE operation.

Organized labor has coalesced behind the demand for a general work stoppage in the state. The Minneapolis Federation of Educators is just one of the unions that have signed onto the call for a general strike. Schools have been the target of numerous ICE raids since the start of Operation Metro Surge. Natasha Dockter, Vice President of the MFE, said, “In the last few weeks, federal immigration enforcement agents have created hazardous and dangerous conditions in our community that threaten the very right of children to receive an education.” The sheer scale of the operation has led to a wide array of groups, both traditional unions and advocacy organizations, to band together behind the message of “ICE Out of MN.”

Kat Rohn, who heads the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization OutFront MN, told Truthout that this is the first time the organization has collaborated with many of the other groups, not due to political differences, but because there has not been the political impetus. ICE, however, was that catalyst. “It is formal organizations working with informal neighborhood groups and supporting one another to better respond to the moment and give folks effective actions they can take, to look out for their neighbors, to protect one another,” Rohn said.

“When our volunteers walk in with the flyers … people are so excited. Business owners say, ‘Great, I’ll put up four.'”

It was Minneapolis Council Member Soren Stevenson’s third day in office when Good was killed. During the 2020 George Floyd Uprising, a Minneapolis Police officer shot Stevenson in the eye with a rubber bullet during a demonstration, permanently blinding him. He was later awarded a multi-million dollar settlement. The Democratic Socialists of America-backed councilor told Truthout, “The goal of the Day of Action is to expand the coalition, get more and more people and organizations involved so that we can be more powerful the day after.” Stevenson emphasized the importance of community-led rapid response networks and drew attention to the ongoing occupation.

Frustration with the state and city governments is growing at the grassroots level. “Words coming from, whether it’s our mayor or the governor right now, are ringing hollow to what’s happening in the communities in the streets,” Gomez stressed. Economic disruption is the only option, according to organizers who spoke with Truthout. Elliott, who has been going door to door on Minneapolis’s Southside, organizing businesses around the upcoming Day of Action for PSL, said, “When our volunteers walk in with the flyers that say, ‘ICE out of Minnesota, January 23, statewide shutdown,’ people are so excited. Business owners say, ‘Great, I’ll put up four.’”

On the Lake Street Corridor in South Minneapolis, a hub for Somali and Latino-owned businesses in the city, the streets are noticeably quiet, with some businesses shuttered altogether. Many of those that are still open keep their doors locked in an effort to keep ICE agents out. Luis Argueta, the director of communications at Unidos MN, one of the organizations spearheading the Day of Action, told Truthout, “Foot traffic is down everywhere. It doesn’t matter what industry, but it’s because of the fear, and because of the number of agents. We have a lot of businesses that have closed.”

Critics of the Day of Action have pointed to the “economic blackout” as having the potential to hurt immigrant-owned businesses, already struggling seven weeks into Operation Metro Surge. Stevenson said of the criticism, “What’s going to help our community economically is getting ICE out as soon as possible.” Argueta also added, “This isn’t meant to stop small businesses, but this really is about accountability for the larger Minnesota companies that are staying silent when they have the power to effect change here.”

The January 23 Day of Action will be an opportunity for Minnesota residents to show off their collective labor and purchasing power as they demand that corporations with headquarters in Minnesota, including UnitedHealth Group, Target, and Best Buy, use their influence to put an end to ICE’s occupation of the Twin Cities. Organizers are also demanding that Target and Home Depot, which have been documented being used as staging grounds and parking lots for ICE agents, become “4th Amendment businesses” and refuse to allow federal immigration authorities to use their properties to prepare for or conduct operations.

“We’re gonna win because there are thousands and thousands of us who are united against this, and there are only so many federal agents,” Stevenson concluded.