Minnesota is holding an economic blackout on January 23 to protest ICE: What to know about the ‘Day of Truth and Freedom’

Labor unions, faith organizations, and local businesses in Minnesota are calling for a statewide “collective pause” this Friday—in which they urge residents not to go to work, school, or do any shopping—in protest of the Trump administration’s aggressive deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the Twin Cities and beyond.

The action, called the “Day of Truth and Freedom,” is planned for January 23, and includes plans for a march in downtown Minneapolis at 2 p.m.

Here’s what to know.

What’s the situation with ICE in Minnesota?

On January 6, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was deploying 2,000 officers to the Minneapolis area to conduct what it called the “largest immigration operation ever.”

The next day, an ICE agent shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good. Residents and officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, called for ICE to leave the state immediately.

Since then, the crackdown has only continued. ICE agents are reportedly conducting door-to-door raids. They have shown up at local schools, prompting districts to switch to remote learning, and have dragged workers out of a Target store and broke into a home to force a man who was wearing just shorts and Crocs outside into the freezing temperatures.

What’s happening on the ‘Day of Truth and Freedom’?

Minnesotans have been protesting this aggressive presence of ICE. Now, a collection of unions, faith groups, community organizations, and local businesses are calling on them to take collective action on Friday, January 23. 

“Working people, our schools and our communities are under attack,” Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said in a statement about her group’s support of the Day of Truth and Freedom.

“Union members are being detained commuting to and from work, tearing apart families. Parents are being forced to stay home, students held out of school, fearing for their lives, all while the employer class remains silent,” she continued. “Our labor federations are encouraging everyone to participate on January 23rd. It’s time for every single Minnesotan who loves this state and the notion of truth and freedom to raise their voices and deepen their solidarity for our neighbors and coworkers living under this federal occupation.”

Along with the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, and a slew of local businesses, labor groups including the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, the West Area Labor Council, the North East Area Labor Council, and the East Central Labor Council are in support of the statewide action.

A group of faith leaders and clergy members have also come out in support of the action, announcing that places of worship across the state will participate, and demanding ICE leave Minnesota.

“Silence in the face of oppression is not neutrality. It is permission,” one faith leader with the nonprofit Isaiah said in a recent press conference. “That is why on January 23 we are standing with more than 100 organizations across Minnesota.”

What are the demands of the Minnesota anti-ICE economic blackout?

Organizers of the economic blackout have created a list of demands from their action. 

They are calling for ICE to leave Minnesota; for the officer who killed Renee Good to be held legally accountable; for the upcoming Congressional budget to give no additional federal funding to ICE and for ICE to be investigated for human and Constitutional violations; and for Minnesota and national companies to cease their economic relations with ICE and refuse entry to ICE agents. 

A group of Minnesota businesses have announced that they will be closed January 23 for that anti-ICE action. That list includes local restaurants, bars, book stores, and more. 

Minneapolis is also home to a number of Fortune 500 companies who have been silent about the ICE raids in the state. When Fast Company reached out multiple times in the wake of Good’s killing to General Mills, Target, Best Buy, Cargill, UnitedHealth Group, 3M, and Land O’Lakes for comment, none of them responded. 

Those companies that have Minnesota retail locations do not appear on lists of businesses that plan to close for the one-day strike. 

The Trump administration has not indicated so far that it will stop its immigration raids in Minnesota. After Minnesota leaders filed a lawsuit saying the crackdown was unconstitutional in an attempt to end it, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked a federal judge to reject that bid.

The DOJ is also investigating a protest at a St. Paul church in which residents confronted a pastor who they say is the acting field director of the St. Paul ICE field office. And it has subpoenaed at least five Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Frey, as part of an investigation into whether they have obstructed ICE efforts.