Massive general strike in Minnesota could be the start of something even bigger

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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Again with heavy hearts we honor the memory of a life taken by ICE terror. May we honor the memories of Alex Pretti, Geraldo Lunos Campos, Renee Good, and every other life lost to ICE violence with a refusal to back down.

TONIGHT, Thursday 1/29, Never Again Action and IfNotNow are hosting a national call that will bring into conversation people who have shown up in the face of state violence from Minneapolis to Massafer Yatta. Register here.
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General Strike in Minnesota Shows a Way Forward

In the wake of Alex Pretti’s brutal murder by ICE officers, it is more crucial than ever to remember the events that occurred in Minnesota just the day before. On the coldest day of the year to date, Minnesotans gathered in Minneapolis for a one-day general strike, using a multitude of tactics to signal to the Trump administration and DHS that they would continue to show up for their immigrant neighbors and resist racist terror and violence.

With over 700 businesses in Minneapolis closed for the day, and many other cities across the US holding solidarity protests, Minnesotans got started early in the morning by blockading the local ICE detention center. At the same time, over 1000 people, including clergy and religious leaders from all over the US, protested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, where deportation flights have been leaving since December. Then, up to 50,000 people marched and rallied in downtown Minneapolis chanting “ICE OUT.”

We must not only focus on the horrific murder of the following day. The people power harnessed to create a massive general strike in Minneapolis, and the speed and efficiency with which ordinary people organized ICE watches, are important and hopeful lessons for organizers to reflect on, and celebrate.
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100 Clergy Arrested Blocking Minneapolis Airport Departures, Demanding Delta End ICE Complicity

Approximately 100 religious leaders were arrested Friday morning as leaders blocked airline departures from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. The blockade coincided with a statewide economic shutdown in which hundreds of Minnesota businesses closed their doors in protest of federal immigration enforcement.

The mass arrests followed Thursday’s deployment of 200 U.S. clergy from across the United States who fanned out across Minneapolis neighborhoods to alert communities to ICE presence. The clergy mobilization represents an escalation in religious institutional resistance to Trump administration immigration policy, with faith leaders now employing direct action tactics that risk federal prosecution.
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Immigrant families protest Texas detention of Minnesota boy and father

ICE kidnapped a five-year-old boy and used him as bait to lure his parents out of their home, according to officials at the boy’s preschool. ICE denies this, but ICE has a documented history of lying and using “ruses” to lure people into detention. The boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father were kidnapped and sent to Dilley detention center in Texas. Even when ICE officials dispute some details, they don’t bother to deny that their intention was to break up a family and deport a child after his day at pre-school.

Immigrant families, themselves being held in detention at Dilley, staged a protest on Saturday including signs that read “Libertad para los ninos!” (free the kids!). To quote the AP article linked above:

“‘The message we want to send is for them to treat us with dignity… We’re immigrants, with children’… Maria Alejandra Montoya Sanchez, 31, told the AP in a phone interview from the facility after the demonstration. She and her 9-year-old daughter have been held at Dilley since October.”
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'It's time to start doing something.' Despite risks of violence, Minnesotans step up to take on ICE

“I do feel scared, but at the same time, I know I have to take care of my people too,” said Fabiola, a naturalized US citizen from Latin America. Her words define a new kind of “Minnesota nice.” Witnessed by the world, Minnesotans have turned out in freezing polar vortex conditions by the thousands to defy the activities of a militarized Department of Homeland Security and to protect their neighbors.

Trump and the DHS have attempted to villainize these heroic acts as “domestic terrorism” alleging that they impede the supposedly lawful functions of an agency that has long gone rogue. They have arrested and detained many.

"They wouldn't be working so hard to intimidate us and utilizing all those resources if we weren't actually being successful in gumming up the works of their operation or slowing them down,” said one trained legal observer.

These peaceful, courageous efforts have not stopped the kidnappings in the streets. But in all likelihood, they have slowed the progress of the DHS in detaining and deporting thousands. These small, often invisible victories have always been crucial to successfully resisting fascism.
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