Thousands attend the ICE Out of Minnesota General Strike and March Jan 23, 2026

Subzero temperatures could not stop, nor slow down, the ICE Out of Minnesota: A Call for Freedom and Truth, a Minnesota general strike on January 23. The request was:

  • No Work

  • No School

  • No Shopping

Turns out hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans took action in a unified, statewide pause in daily economic activity. More than 700 businesses closed, tens of thousands of Minnesotans took to the streets and the airport, all in unified, non-violent action.

There were four demands:

  1. ICE must leave Minnesota now.

  2. Any officer who kills a civilian must be held legally accountable. That starts with legitimate investigations and charges by local officials. 

  3. Shut down Trump’s ICE. 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 all corporations to become 4th Amendment businesses, cease economic relations with ICE and refuse ICE entry or using their property for staging grounds, and lobby congress to freeze funding for ICE/DHS.   

There was a coordinated effort at the Whipple Building in the morning. There was also a coordinated effort at the airport where many clergy were arrested for their actions. There were local events across the state, where neighbors gathers in their our communities to stand strike and stand up for their demands.

At 2pm, 50-100,000 people (depended on who you ask) showed up in the bitter cold to walk from The Commons to Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. It’s just under a mile; the walk took more than 40 minutes. The sun shown, the wind died down and people kept coming and coming. The end of the march had not left The Commons before the front of the march reached the Target Center. We chanted and heard a wide range of speakers from a truck leading the march. A drum team kept the beat, inflatable frogs raised their fists, we shivered as we marched. But we marched in community.

There was a full program at the Target Center. It started late and there was confusion about tickets, how to get them and was the event sold out. But again, we listed, chanted and sang in solidarity.

Ann Treacy