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Activists nationwide are calling for an economic shutdown on January 30 to protest ICE activity.
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Celebrities, including Hannah Einbinder and Pedro Pascal, posted on social media about the strike.
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It is an expansion of Minnesota’s ICE OUT protest on January 23rd.
Last Friday, the Minnesota business Catzen Coffee was not open for purchase – but invited customers to sit with cats and find community as part of a statewide economic shutdown to protest intensified ICE actions.
This Friday, the general strike is going on nationwide.
At least that’s the goal of activist groups, unions, and some celebrities who have called for no work, school, or shopping after fatal shootings by immigration officials in recent weeks in Minnesota.
In a post promoting a “National Shutdown,” actor Hannah Einbinder wrote on Instagram that “keeping our jobs and capital is our most effective lever. The national general strike spread the word!”
The actor Pedro Pascal shared a graphic of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the two Minnesotans shot by federal agents, which says “Pretti Good Reason For A National Strike,” and posted in support of a larger strike on the 30th.
It is unclear how widespread participation in the blackout will be or what impact it might have on ICE operations. A website for the “National Shutdown” lists hundreds of organizations as endorsers.
“Last week’s march brought out tens of thousands of people, let’s make this Friday even bigger,” wrote the University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union in a post on Instagram.
Minnesotans took to the streets and closed businesses on January 23rd to protest ICE
The action of January 23 in Minnesota was approved by a large number of regional labor unions, whose demands included ICE leaving the state and no additional federal funding for the agency.
“Working people, our schools and our communities are under attack. Union members are being kept from commuting to and from work, and families are being torn apart,” said Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, the president of the Minneapolis Regional Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, in a statement ahead of the January 23 Minnesota strike. “Parents are being forced to stay at home, students kept out of school, fearing for their lives, all while the employer class remains silent.”
Local news site Bring Me The News has compiled a running list of over 200 businesses that have posted on social media about their participation.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that the Trump administration’s immigration operations “have resulted in a number of dangerous criminal illegals being taken off the streets”. Jackson said it will “create a safer environment where all businesses can thrive in the long term and their customers can feel safe.”
Ultimately, thousands of Minnesotans took to the streets on January 23, and about 700 businesses closed their doors in solidarity, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“I thought the strike was a great success. There were so many who participated that it served as a true roadmap for a larger general strike,” said Vanessa Beardsley, Catzen’s owner, about the January 23rd strike. “For me personally, there was great comfort and gratitude that I live in Minnesota and that we are all together at this time in history.”
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