By Heather Schlitz and Jonathan Allen
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Scores of businesses across Minnesota were closing up for the day on Friday in what religious leaders and labor unions describe as a general strike to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s deployment of thousands of immigration enforcement officers on the streets of Minneapolis.
“ICE OUT!” was the message of fliers posted on businesses’ doors, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on Friday, a frigid day in snowy Minneapolis with temperatures well below freezing. “NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING.”
Across the state, bars, restaurants, museums, shops and other local businesses were shuttering for the day. Many workers in Minneapolis planned to join a march in the afternoon, intended by organizers to be the largest display of opposition yet to the federal government’s surge, which Mayor Jacob Frey and other Democrats have likened to an invasion.
Miguel Hernandez, a community organizer who closed his business, Lito’s Bakery in Minneapolis for the day, put on four layers, wool socks and a parka before heading out to protest.
“If this were any other time, no one would’ve gone out,” he said, bracing for the weather. “For us, it’s a message of solidarity with our community, that we see the pain and misery that’s going on in the streets, and it’s a message to our politicians that they have to do more than grandstand on the news.”
No school districts were shutting down, but schools in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul offered remote-learning options, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
MARCH FOLLOWS ANGRY STREET CONFRONTATIONS
Trump, a Republican, launched the Minnesota crackdown in response to fraud allegations against some members of the state’s large community of people of Somali origin. He has called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said they are to be removed from the country as part of his effort to expel more immigrants, including some admitted into the country to seek asylum and other lawful residents, than any of his predecessors.
Minnesota residents have responded with anger, making noise in the streets day and night with whistles and musical instruments. Some agents and protesters have yelled obscenities at each other, and agents have deployed tear gas and flash-bang grenades to scatter crowds. The Trump administration says some protesters have harassed agents and obstructed their work.
Senior Trump administration officials have gone to Minneapolis to defend ICE, with Vice President JD Vance telling reporters during his Thursday visit the administration is “doing everything we can to lower the temperature.”
Patty O’Keefe, a 36-year-old nonprofit worker, said she would be among those willing to join Friday’s march and “expose ourselves to the elements to demonstrate the level of anger and frustration that we have.”
“We continue to be under siege from the federal government, and it feels like we need to do more because our normal forms of protest and resistance have shown to not be enough yet to really send a strong enough message to Trump,” she said.
The numerous Fortune 500 companies that call Minnesota home – mostly based in the Minneapolis area – have refrained from public statements about the immigration raids. Minneapolis-based Target, which has come under fire in the last year for retreating from its public commitment to diversity policies, has faced more criticism for not speaking out about activity at its stores. State lawmakers have pressed the company for details of its guidance to employees if and when ICE officers show up at stores.
The company declined a request for comment. Reuters also contacted Minnesota-based UnitedHealth, Medtronic, Abbott Laboratories, Best Buy, Hormel, General Mills, 3M and Fastenal. None immediately responded to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Heather Schlitz in Minneapolis and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Anshuman Tripathy, Marian E Sunny, Angela M Christy and Sanskriti Shekhar; Writing by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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