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Hundreds of Minnesota Businesses Close as Protests Target ICE Enforcement
Hundreds of Minnesota businesses closed Friday and thousands of people demonstrated in subzero temperatures to protest the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement operations in the state.
The coordinated closures and rallies followed calls by organizers for residents to skip work and school and avoid shopping to oppose the continued presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Federal authorities have carried out what they call “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota for more than six weeks, describing it as a public safety effort focused on deporting people in the country illegally who have criminal records.
Critics say people without criminal histories, including U.S. citizens, have also been detained.
About 100 clergy members were arrested Friday at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport while protesting airline cooperation with ICE, the Minnesota Reformer reported. Airport officials said the arrests occurred after demonstrators exceeded the terms of a permitted protest.
Tensions escalated earlier this month after the killing of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Renee Good during an ICE operation. Local officials condemned the shooting, which federal authorities have described as self-defense.
“We want ICE out of Minnesota, and we want ICE out of every state, with their extreme overreach,” Bishop Dwayne Royster of Faith in Action said. “We want Congress to stand up and provide oversight to ICE.”
Businesses that closed included restaurants, retail shops and service providers across Minneapolis and greater Minnesota. Some owners said sales had already declined sharply as customers and workers stayed home out of fear.
Minnesota has so-called sanctuary policies that limit local cooperation with ICE, which the administration has criticized as undermining public safety.
