The Wild Reed: “ICE Out!”: The Minnesota General Strike

Friday, January 23, 2026

“ICE Out!”: The Minnesota General Strike – 1/23/26

As most reading this would know, the state of Minnesota, the place I’ve called my second home for the last 32 years, is under occupation by ICE agents of the U.S. federal government. Specifically, with the deployment of over 3,000 ICE agents to Minnesota in recent weeks, mostly in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, this is the Trump regime’s largest and most violent so-called “immigration enforcement operation” to date. Not surprisingly, residents – immigrant and U.S.-born alike – are living with great uncertainty and fear. But we are also embodying courage and resistance.

Indeed, as a recent meme puts it: “We’re not ‘protesting’ here in Minneapolis. We’re resisting an occupation.”

One powerful form of resistance is taking place today, Friday, January 23. Organized by unions, faith leaders, community organizations, and small businesses, today’s action of resistance is a general strike, a statewide day of no work except emergency services, no school, and no shopping. The demand of this strike is clear and direct: “ICE Out of Minnesota.”

Right: I bought this t-shirt especially for today; not that anyone saw it, as I had so many layers of clothing over the top of it! . . . It was, after all, -20 degrees in the Twin Cities today. The image of the black cat has long been a symbol of strike action, as I explain at the end of this previous Wild Reed post.

In addition to a general strike, today saw two major rallies and marches in Minneapolis – one this morning at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and one later in the day in downtown Minneapolis. I attended the first event, one which drew around 5,000 people and saw dozens of clergy members choose to engage in civil disobedience and get arrested. The second event drew 50,000-75,000 people. Both events took place in sub-zero temperatures, on the coldest day in Minnesota in seven years.

Following are images and commentary on today’s general strike and its two main events in Minneapolis. The following 12 photos from this morning’s action at the airport are mine. All other photos – of both the airport and downtown Minneapolis events – are ones I pulled from the Internet.

In -20° weather, over 100 clergy and faith leaders were arrested at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport (MSP) Airport as they gathered in peaceful, prayerful resistance to demand airlines – especially Delta and Signature Aviation – stand with Minnesotans and say “ICE Out of Minnesota.” Over 2,000 deportations have gone through MSP Airport. Workers have been detained by ICE at work and while commuting. This must end.

– Faith in Minnesota
via social media
January 23, 2026

Today I stood in -20 degree temperature to bear witness and stand alongside interfaith leaders and community members united together in solidarity to demand that ICE stop terrorizing Minnesota. While it was painful to see interfaith leaders being arrested for peacefully protesting, I am grateful that I bore witness to this moment in history. I was struck by three things that I want to share with you all.

1. People are traumatized but they are not paralyzed. A community that has endured so much violence and loss, yet Minnesotans continue to lead with joy and humanity more than anything else. It is deeply inspiring.

2. These are American tax dollars that could be spent on the critical necessities that our communities are actually in need of. Americans need housing, food, shelter, clothing, healthcare. But instead, our tax dollars are being wasted on a police state.

3. Minnesota is showing what all of us could be doing as organizers nationally. If leaders all around the country can manage to organize together and actually stand up to these ICE fascists, then we could have a meaningful chance — in fact, I believe a probability — of stopping them. It’s important to learn from what these community members are doing in Minnesota and lead by example within our own communities around the nation and push back.

I’d also like to take note that the majority of leaders here today at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport putting themselves out on the line, getting arrested, were white faith leaders. This is what using your white privilege looks like to protect your neighbors of all faiths and all colors and backgrounds.

– Qasim Rashid
via social media
January 23, 2026

Twin Cities residents are weeks into the Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents in an operation that has seen a legal observer and young mother fatally shot; U.S. citizens dragged out of their homes and vehicles by masked officers; one of President Donald Trump’s top Border Patrol officials lobbing a gas grenade at lawful protesters; children as young as two detained; and armed agents seemingly lurking around every corner.

But the trauma inflicted on the Cities during “Operation Metro Surge” appeared only to have strengthened residents’ resolve to push U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of Minnesota on Friday as residents filled the Minneapolis downtown area to march in sub-freezing temperatures and assembled at a nearby airport through which an estimated 2,000 people have been deported.

The demonstrations were part of a “no work, no school, no shopping” general strike that labor, faith, and community leaders and businesses have joined in calling for in recent days as outrage has grown over ICE’s arrests of immigrants and citizens alike and attacks on residents’ First Amendment rights.

Demonstrators carried signs reading, “ICE Out Now,” “Stop Pretending Racism Is Patriotism,” and “Stop Disappearing Our Neighbors.”

Businesses and cultural institutions were closed in solidarity across the city and the state on Friday; Truthout reported that about 700 businesses shut their doors across Minnesota, while businesses that remained open planned to donate their proceeds from the day to immigrant rights groups.

Organizers said about 100 clergy members were arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport protest. They were among the protesters who blocked the road at a departures terminal, singing, “Before this campaign fails / We’ll all go down to jail / Everybody has a right to live.”

According to union leaders, 12 airport workers are among the Minneapolis-area residents who have been detained by ICE in recent weeks.

Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the Minnesota Regional Labor Federation (MRLF), AFL-CIO, acknowledged that the weather on Friday was "dangerously cold."

“Negative 10°F with wind chills. Like the high is going to be -10°F with wind chills of up to -20°F,” Glaubitz Gabiou told The Guardian. “We are a northern state, and we are built for the cold, and we are going to show up.”

Organizers said the goals of the general strike were for ICE to leave Minnesota, the ICE agent who killed Renée Good earlier this month to be held legally accountable, and no additional federal funding for ICE operations.

Seven U.S. House Democrats joined the Republican Party in passing a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security this week. The legislation still needs to get through the Senate.

Nationwide, data has shown that nearly three-quarters of people arrested by ICE have had no criminal convictions, but the Trump administration has continued to claim it is detaining the “worst of the worst” violent criminals, even as agents have clearly been shown arresting people who are authorized to be in the U.S. and have no criminal records.

– Julia Conley
“Undeterred by Freezing Temps,
Statewide Minnesota Strikes Demand ‘ICE Out Now’”
Common Dreams
January 23, 2026

Right now in Minneapolis, ordinary people have become extraordinary defenders of freedom and human dignity. From businesses voluntarily closing their doors in solidarity, to faith leaders standing shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbors on the streets, to workers and students coordinating an economic strike we are watching meaningful collective resistance in its purest form. Minnesotans are loudly saying ICE, get the fuck out of Minnesota. No more brutality in our communities.

ICE isn’t about law and order. It’s about cruelty, intimidation, and unchecked force being wielded against our friends and neighbors. It’s about an administration that has deployed thousands of agents into our communities to wage a campaign of terror and retribution. They have beaten people, murdered people, and ripped apart families. They are a monstrous horde of ghouls who delight in inflicting pain.

To Trump, Vance, Miller, every operative in that federal enforcement machine, and every individual who supports these tactics, hear this clearly:

Fuck your intimidation.

Fuck your agenda of fear and exclusion.

Fuck your attempt to remake this country in the image of white Christian nationalist domination.

Minnesota has answered with unity, resistance, and defiance. This is what it means to refuse fear and stand for justice. Let this be a moment where we all learn from Minnesota’s resolve. Let’s be prepared to carry that resolve into our own communities. With the unshakeable belief that a better America is still possible – an America that rejects cruelty, rejects white supremacy, celebrates diversity, and honors human rights for everybody.

Stand tall. Stand together. We are far better than the hatred and division being fed us by that petulant narcissist Trump and his horde of white supremacist henchmen.

– Jason Duchin
via social media
January 23, 2026

I’m not one for false optimism. But what I witnessed today in Minneapolis was tremendous, both in scale and exuberance. It was a stunning answer to the federal assault on Minnesota, a show of solidarity that gives us something to hold onto during times that are unforgiving.

There were an estimated 50,000 people marching in the streets to support an economic shutdown, in temperatures so cold your tears freeze to your face and exposed skin is in danger of frostbite. That was preceded by pickets, civil disobedience, and arrests. All day, people have been passing around hand warmers, chanting LOUD, carrying home-made signs, and helping people who became physically overwhelmed by the cold.

It’s too early to assess exactly how many workers stayed out, but I saw teachers, electricians, and food service workers. I talked to one airport worker who kept saying "Oh, my god" because this was so much bigger than she was expecting. She said a lot of her co-workers called in sick.

Minnesota unions really fought for this. That’s an important thing for people to know. There is a coalition here of unions and community groups, rooted in a deep history that goes back to the general strike of 1934, but also organizing against Target, and aligning union contract expirations more recently.

Unions were out. Minnesotans were out. Immigrants were out. Neighbors were out. Rapid responders were out. People who were scared were out. Even kids were out. And it’s still going!