MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A vast network of unions, progressive groups and clergy have been urging Minnesotans on Friday to stay away from jobs, schools and stores to protest the state’s immigration enforcement.
“We really, really want ICE out of Minnesota, and they’re not going to leave Minnesota unless there’s tremendous pressure on them,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of more than 100 mobilizing groups. “They should not be roaming any street in our country as they are now.”
Daily protests have taken place in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul since Renee Good was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during an operation on Jan. 7. Federal law enforcement agents have been swarming the area for weeks, repeatedly confronting community members and activists who tracked their movements online and on the streets.
A prominent civil rights attorney and at least two others were arrested Thursday for participating in an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted Sunday services at a Minnesota church.
Vice President JD Vance visits Minneapolis to meet with ICE officials. He has repeatedly said he believes tensions in Minneapolis will improve with better cooperation from state and local officials and encouraged protests to remain peaceful.
Friday’s mobilization is planned to be the largest coordinated protest effort yet, including a march through downtown Minneapolis, even as the National Weather Service predicts temperatures in the single digits to double digits below zero (-20 to -30 degrees Celsius).
While the organization asks participants to prepare for the cold, Havlin compared the presence of immigration enforcement to such winter weather warnings.
“Minnesotans understand that when we have a snow emergency … we all have to respond, and that leads us to do things differently,” she said. “What’s happening with ICE in our communities, in our state, means we can’t respond the way we normally would.”
Organizers said more than a hundred small businesses in the Twin Cities, mostly coffee shops and restaurants, said they would unite to close or donate some of their profits.
Sales at minority-owned businesses especially drop during the enforcement surge, as workers and customers stay away for fear they will be detained.
But Luis Argueta of the civil rights group Unidos MN said some decided to close anyway, preferring a solidarity stance rather than an “unplanned disruption” that would have agents arrest staff.
Many schools are scheduled to close for various reasons. The University of Minnesota, which has about 50,000 students, said there would be no in-person classes due to severe cold warnings, and the St. Paul Public School District said there would be no classes for the same reason. Minneapolis Public Schools are also scheduled to close Friday to “celebrate Teacher Recordkeeping Day.”
Clergy plan to take part in the march and hold prayer services and fasts, according to a delegation of representatives from Buddhist, Jewish, Lutheran and Muslim faith traditions.
Bishop Dwayne Royster, leader of the progressive group Faith in Action, arrived in Minnesota from Washington on Wednesday
“We want ICE out of Minnesota,” he said. “We want them to leave all the cities across the country where they’re overextended.”
Royster said at least 50 faith-based organizers in his network from across the United States have joined the protests.
One organizer said about 10 religious leaders planned to travel to Minnesota from Los Angeles, while others from the same group planned to hold a solidarity rally in California.
“It was a very traumatic experience,” the Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez said of last year’s massive law enforcement operation in Los Angeles. “We believe God is on the side of immigrants.”
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Associated Press reporters Jack Brooker and Sarah Raza in Minneapolis and Tiffany Stanley in Washington contributed.
