ICE Out: January 23 General Strike Brewing in Minnesota

Donald Trump’s assault on the rule of law and simple humanity in Minnesota has prompted a call for a general strike on Friday, January 23.

Numerous labor unions, human rights advocates, and other organizations support the planned strike against work, school, and shopping:

“We are not going to shop. We are not going to work. We are not going to school on Friday, January 23. For some people they call that a strike,” said JaNaé Bates Imari of Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church at a press conference on Tuesday. “For many of us, this is our right to refusal until something changes.”

Among the unions endorsing the call are Service Employees Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, Communications Workers Local 7250, the St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28, the Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, the Committee of Interns and Residents (SEIU), and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

“Our labor federations are encouraging everyone to participate on January 23rd,” said Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the Minneapolis federation. “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 co-workers living under this federal occupation.”

Other endorsers include Faith in Minnesota, Tending the Soil, United Renters for Justice, Unidos Minnesota, Communities Against Police Brutality, Indivisible Twin Cities, Women’s March Minnesota, the worker center Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha, and Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee. In all, 90 organizations, big and small, have endorsed the call [Luiz Feliz Leon, “Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota?” Labor Notes, 2026.01.16].

ICE Out Now MN lists four strike demands:

1. ICE must leave Minnesota now.
2. The officer who killed Good must be held legally accountable.
3. No additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming Congressional budget and ICE should be investigated for human and Constitutional violations of Americans and our neighbors.
4. We call upon MN and National Companies to become 4th Amendment businesses, cease economic relations with ICE and refuse ICE entry or using their property for staging grounds [ICEOutNowMN.com, retrieved 2026.01.17].

Fourth Amendment Businesses—y’all remember the Bill of Rights, right?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized [Fourth Amendment, United States Constitution, ratified 1791.12.15].

As some North Carolina patriots explain, Fourth Amendment workplaces “know ICE needs a judicial warrant (not administrative) to enter private areas, trains staff to assert their constitutional rights during search and seizure operations, [and] protects all workers, regardless of immigration status.”

All businesses should be Fourth Amendment businesses and join the strike, since Trump’s domestic terrorism is not only unconstitutional but also bad for business:

Workers are essential for our communities to function. Since the ICE campaign of terror began, both immigrant and non-immigrant workers have feared for their safety when going to work, being at work, and coming home from work. Union members and our families are being illegally detained at alarming rates, with workplaces and schools facing increased challenges [Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, press release, 2026.01.16].

Governor Tim Walz explained Wednesday night the federally perpetrated terror his citizens face under Trump’s occupation:

The stark reality of what is happening was acknowledged in the extraordinary statement by Democratic Governor Tim Walz Wednesday evening. He declared that developments in the state “defy belief” and that “News reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.”

Walz stated that “two to three thousand armed agents of the federal government” have been deployed across the state, going door-to-door, “pulling over people indiscriminately, including U.S. citizens, and demanding to see their papers,” and “breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans, kidnapping innocent people with no warning and no due process.”

Walz described the operation as “a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.” Citing Trump’s fascistic threat that “the day of retribution and reckoning is coming,” the governor stated: “That is a direct threat against the people of this state” [Socialist Equality Party US, “For a General Strike to Stop Trump’s Occupation of Minneapolis!” World Socialist Web Site, 2026.01.16].

Governor Walz has yet to endorse the January 23 strike. But Minnesota students have already staged multiple walkouts to protest ICE thuggery. Let’s hope their teachers, parents, and bosses join them on Friday to stand up for the Constitution and the United States of America we are supposed to be, not the lawless bully into which Trump and Stephen Miller are turning our government.