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By Devin B. Martinez / Peoples Dispatch
Momentum toward a statewide general strike is rapidly building in Minnesota, as unions, businesses, students, and community organizations prepare to shut down work, schools, and commerce on January 23, in response to the killing of Renee Macklin Good and the expanding presence of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Twin Cities.
The community has been fiercely mobilizing since the call to shut down was issued last week by prominent community leaders. Ignited by the call, coordination is stretching across multiple sectors of society, as opposition to ICE becomes a central point of resistance to Trump’s far-right agenda.
“Come out, fight. Fight for your brother, fight for your sister, fight for your sibling,” said David Stiggers, president of ATU Local 1005, which represents 2700 workers, in a press conference on January 19. “We are all in this together because it will not stop. It will not stop unless we make it stop.”
Justice for Renee Good, and the complete removal of ICE from the state are the primary demands of the community.
The call to shut down the Twin Cities and the entire state of Minnesota has been joined by over 100 labor unions, community organizations, cultural groups, and tenant and neighborhood associations. Hundreds of small businesses so far have also declared they will totally shut down, according to a sign-on letter shared with Peoples Dispatch.
In response to the surging movement, the federal government has threatened to send 1500 US soldiers to the Twin Cities to reinforce the federal forces already there. The total size of the current force is 3500, according to city and state officials.
Minneapolis became the principal battleground against the Trump agenda after an initial 2,000 ICE agents were deployed against the Twin Cities on January 6. Renee Good was murdered the very next day by a federal ICE agent. Instead of changing course, the campaign that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calls the “largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever” appears to only be growing larger.
In the remaining days ahead of what organizers hope will be a historic statewide shutdown on January 23, the community is taking action daily toward the same demand: “ICE out of Minnesota!”
Confrontations with ICE intensify in the streets
On Sunday morning, protestors disrupted the service of a church where David Easterwood, the St. Paul ICE field office director, serves as pastor. Although the Trump administration has threatened the protestors with federal charges, various community members defended the action and denounced Easterwood’s role as a pastor while at the same time “being directly responsible” for the ICE violence in Minnesota.
On January 17, a crowd of thousands of Minnesotans confronted and chased away far-right influencer and pardoned January 6 rioter Jake Lang, after he planned an anti-muslim demonstration and threatened to “burn a Quran” on the steps of City Hall.
Last week, the day after the January 23 call was made, a second ICE shooting in Minneapolis sparked immediate protests.
Demonstrators converging on the scene were met with flashbangs and tear gas. Multiple witnesses report seeing bystanders, children, and even babies tear gassed by federal ICE agents.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed the shooting was self-defense, but later eyewitness testimony and video completely contradicts the government account. The victim, Julio Sosa-Celis, says he was helping his cousin escape ICE and enter an apartment. Once his cousin was inside, ICE agents shot Sosa-Celis (not the person they were chasing) through the door.
Despite widespread opposition to the ICE deployment (dubbed “Operation Metro Surge” by federal authorities), the Trump administration has doubled down on its rhetoric. In a press conference in Minneapolis on January 20, Head of ICE Gregory Bovino claimed that ICE only targets violent criminals and rapists, saying “what we do is legal, ethical, and moral.” DHS secretary Kristi Noem said the operation in Minnesota is ”a huge victory for public safety,” in a post on X on January 19.
Meanwhile, videos circulating on social media and shared by local organizers show a totally opposite reality. ICE agents seem to constantly be assaulting and violently arresting people, including US citizens, and even members of the Lakota Sioux tribal nation. Some videos show civilian vehicles being rammed to make arrests, women being dragged from their cars, car windows smashed, homes broken into, activists and observers brutalized (one left permanently blind). Not to mention the video of the murder of Renee Good.
For many in Minnesota, these scenes have made clear that conventional protest is no longer enough, and that only a collective shutdown of work, commerce, and daily life can force an end to the violence.
“Abolishing a system isn’t far-fetched”: Unions shut down workplaces
“We can’t continue doing things the old way. We have to adapt so that we can defeat this machine appropriately,” said David Stiggers, president of ATU Local 1005, which represents 2700 workers, in an interview with Labor On the Line.
“Old ways sometimes don’t always work. I’m all for protesting … But how do we stop this from continuing?”
Stiggers says a general strike can show “the power of the people”.
“There would be no movement. The entire city would shut down, if all unions could make that happen.”
Dozens of labor unions have poured into the growing movement against ICE and endorsed the statewide shutdown on the 23rd, including: SEIU 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, AFL-CIO, Minnesota Workers United, Amalgamated Transit Union 1005, North East Area Labor Council, Saint Paul Federation of Educators, and many more.
Communications workers and postal workers rallied at the site of Renee Good’s murder on January 18. They demanded justice for Renee, the removal of ICE from the state, and echoed the call for a January 23 shutdown.
“The concept of abolishing a system isn’t that far-fetched,” said Marcia Howard, president of MFE Local 59, at a union rally outside the Minneapolis postal office on January 19, demanding ICE out of the state.
“I don’t think that it’s reaching for the stars to say that this deleterious organization that just hired people after a demonstrable six-minute interview … maybe shouldn’t exist at all.”
Howard says that Trump’s decision to target Minneapolis was a major strategic error, because “the discipline, the culture, and the community” that’s needed to fight back and win already defines the Twin Cities.
“We’ve been forged by multiple ‘unprecedented events’ before,” she said.
“We’re the same people that marched for Jamar Clark and Philando Castile and brown kids in cages. We were the center of the world’s attention during George Floyd. We’ve had historical strikes in industries of nursing, in education, and we’re a labor town. You really want to mess with working-class people who actually have a labor cohesiveness called the Minnesota Model named after them?”
“Let’s pony up,” says David Stiggers. “Let’s do this in the name of solidarity, in the name of all those who fell before us, who are trying to give us better days. Let’s do it for them.”
Store owners wield economic power against ICE
“We invite all of you to participate this January 23 in this strike,” Candi, owner of Pasteleria Gama, told Peoples Dispatch.
Business owners have highlighted the “economic violence” that ICE operations represent for them, citing a sharp drop in business as their community is heavily targeted by federal forces.
“Our people, they are scared to come into the mall, to go outside … [ICE] killed some people, they shot others, all the people are scared,” said Abdi, owner of Rancho Coffee in 24 Somali Mall (a major commerce hub), speaking to Peoples Dispatch.
“All of the businesses in Mall 24, all Somali people, all our community are coming out and shutting down all the business on Friday.”
Purple and orange posters reading “ICE OUT! Statewide Shutdown” have appeared on windows and doors of hundreds of businesses across the Twin Cities. Business owners are holding press conferences, organizing meetings, and talking to news outlets about the shutdown, amplifying the call to join.
Karmel Mall, another major hub, is completely shutting down this Friday. “No school, no work, no business! ICE out of Minnesota!” chanted Wirse, a garment shop owner in the mall.
In St. Paul’s Hmong Village, another key market for the immigrant community, support for the shutdown was immediate. Especially after a video surfaced on social media showing ICE agents raiding an elderly Hmong man’s home, arresting him, and apparently forcing him outside wearing nothing but shorts and a blanket.
Riverside Mall, in the center of Minneapolis, is yet another hub that has seen a wave of support for the 23rd. At the iconic Mall of America, interest in shutting down is also growing.
Mass organizing accelerates toward general strike
Organizers and community members are mobilizing to draw still more businesses and organizations into the statewide shutdown against ICE.
“The things that are going on. It’s insane and ridiculous … We gotta stand up. We gotta do what we can,” said Tianna Toney, a Minneapolis resident and volunteer reaching out to local businesses. “There is too much going on for us not to be saying anything.”
The ranks of organizers and volunteers distributing posters, leaflets, and spreading the word about the shutdown on the 23rd is growing rapidly by the day.
Mass volunteer meetings have started to be regularly organized by the Twin Cities branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, where anyone in the community can pick up materials, join outreach groups, and debrief about their efforts. They plan to talk to as many neighbors, businesses, and organizations as possible each day until Friday.
Volunteers say they are also working with students and staff at the University of Minnesota who are calling for a shut down of the campus on January 23.
High School students launch walkouts against ICE
Following an ICE assault on students and staff at Roosevelt High School (the same day as the murder of Renee Good), High School students at Roosevelt and across the Twin Cities have been walking out of school in protest of the militarized federal forces in their community.
“ICE needs to leave, not just Minnesota but the entire United States,” said Eleanor, during a student walkout at Central High School in St. Paul on January 15. “On the 23rd, people are advised not to go to work and not to go to school to protest ICE,” Eleanor said.
Hundreds of students also walked out of St. Louis Park High School and other high schools on January 20 as part of a national day of action against Trump.
As workers, students, and community members coordinate their actions, the movement is building a rare alignment across multiple sectors of Minnesota society. From unions shutting down workplaces to small businesses closing their doors, and high school walkouts amplifying youth voices, the city’s daily life is being strategically repurposed as a form of resistance.
If Minnesota succeeds in shutting down workplaces, schools, and commerce on January 23, it could mark a moment when collective economic power forces a national pause on Trump’s far-right agenda. A victory of that scale could serve as a testament for working people across the United States that a general strike can make real change, even at the federal level, while building independent political power that can be leveraged long-term.
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Devin B. Martinez
Devin B. Martinez is an author at Peoples Dispatch.