People across Minnesota are striking Friday as part of ongoing protests against the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in their state who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s deportation plan.
The protest, “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom,” is a general strike that was endorsed by the state’s unions and community activists.
On Friday, due to the protests, many Minnesotans won’t go to work, go to school or spend money shopping. The goal is to pause economic activity enough in the state to create change and have ICE officers leave the state.
It’s the latest in weeks of protests that began after ICE came to Minneapolis earlier this month shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good. The Department of Homeland Security has defended the officer involved in Good’s death, arguing that he was acting in self-defense.
Federal officers have been in the Twin Cities for weeks and continually faced pushback and protests from local community members, with several being temporarily detained. Officers and the Trump administration say they are looking for criminals who are in the country illegally to be taken into detention facilities and potentially deported.
The protests have at times become violent after Good’s death, including when agents have thrown tear gas, deployed pepper spray and rubber bullets.
Demonstrators marched in downtown Minneapolis on Friday afternoon, despite the frigid temperatures. Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses across the state will be closed in solidarity, The Associated Press reported.
Several faith communities on Friday joined together to fast and pray amid the unrest.
“The purpose of the day is to join with others to fast and pray for peace, unity and change, as well as an expression of solidarity with Minnesotans and those individuals and families in our community — and own congregations — that are experiencing fear, uncertainty and heartache during this time,” the St. Paul Minnesota Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement.
The invitation was extended to all involved in several faith congregations and the interfaith community in the area to be “strengthened and blessed as we unite in fasting and prayer.”
In a Wall Street Journal commentary Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, called for federal immigration reform.
“As a pastor, I see the human cost on all sides. I minister to immigrant parishioners who are fearful of driving their children to school or shopping for groceries, regardless of their legal status,” he wrote. “I also serve those who feel abandoned by leaders who have seemed more interested in political posturing than in protecting their communities. The church can’t choose one flock over another. Neither should the nation.”
Faith leaders arrested in St. Paul
As dozens of faith leaders were protesting at St. Paul International Airport on Friday, many were arrested. The protesters were calling on airlines to stand with Minnesotans and their call for ICE to end its presence in the state as they deport people through the airport.
Protesters were praying and singing until about 100 clergy members were arrested, event organizers said, according to CBS News. Police say more protesters were at the airport than were allowed by their permit.
On Thursday, a civil rights attorney and others were arrested after disrupting a Sunday church service by protesting. It also was the same day that Vice President JD Vance was in Minneapolis and delivered remarks about the ongoing unrest.
Vance urged state and local officials to cooperate with immigration enforcement, particularly as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continues to call for ICE to leave his residents alone.
“The No. 1 thing that I learned today is that the best way to facilitate reasonable enforcement of the law, but also lower the chaos in Minneapolis would be for state and local officials to cooperate,” he said.
Disagreement over what happened with 5-year-old boy
One of the latest encounters stirring up protesters in the state came when ICE detained a 5-year-old boy who was arriving home from preschool. He was taken with his father to a detention center in Texas and is the fourth student from the Minneapolis suburb to be detained. The boy’s father reportedly told his mother, who was inside the home, not to open the door.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said online that the father and son are together in an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. McLaughlin defended the detention and said that officers remained with and comforted the boy for hours.
She said that the boy’s father fled when he saw ICE agents, leaving the boy alone, and the mother refused to open the door to get her son, prompting law enforcement to stay with the boy.
The boy’s school superintendent, Zena Stenvik, told reporters that the family came to the United States in 2024 and has an active asylum case and has not been ordered by the Trump administration to leave the country.
Organizers for Friday’s strike hope it will be the largest coordinated protests to date despite freezing temperatures across the state. Many schools planned closures in the state on Friday, but cited different reasons, including the cold, the AP reported.
The protests also come after Border Patrol Commander at Large Greg Bovino said Thursday that there is no end date for the ICE operation in Minnesota, the Minnesota Star Tribune said.
Bovino also defended the administration’s actions in detaining the 5-year-old boy, Liam Ramos, even as some community members and people online are sharply criticizing the move.
“We conduct legal, ethical and moral law enforcement missions here in Minneapolis,” he said.
He also criticized Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for relying on “heated rhetoric and accusations that … distract from the facts.” Bovino sharply criticized local law enforcement, who he said have been “missing in action.”
It also comes as ICE begins conducting operations in Maine, where officials said they were starting an “Operation Catch of the Day” and targeting the “worst of the worst.”